US can defend itself from North Korea missile attack: Pentagon
The United States is certain it can defend itself from an attack by North Korea, the Defence Department said after Pyongyang warned it was close to test launching a ballistic missile.
"We remain confident in our ballistic missile defence and in our defence of our allies and our defence of the homeland," Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said at a news briefing.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, in a New Year's speech Sunday, said the country was "in the final stages of test-launching the intercontinental ballistic missile."
In 2016, North Korea conducted two nuclear tests and numerous missile launches in its quest to develop a nuclear weapons system capable of hitting the US mainland.
Bill and Hillary Clinton to attend Donald Trump's inauguration - reports
Both Bill and Hillary Clinton will attend the inauguration later this month of Donald Trump as US president, according to reports.
Clinton aides confirmed to US news agencies that former president Bill Clinton and Trump's Democratic rival in the 2016 presidential election Hillary Clinton would attend the Jan 20 event.
Former presidents from both parties typically attend inaugurations, but Mrs Clinton's presence takes on added meaning given that the former first lady was the President-elect's main opponent in the 2016 race.
Two-year-old caught on camera rescuing twin from under fallen dresser
A two-year-old toddler has become a pint-sized superhero - and a social media hit - after rescuing his twin brother from under a fallen dresser.
Bowdy Shoff and brother Brock were playing at their home in Orem, Utah, in the US under the watchful gaze of a home surveillance video camera when the dresser fell, trapping Brock underneath the corner.
The boys' parents later posted the video to YouTube as a warning to other parents of the dangers of unsecured tall furniture
Husband in Japan speaks to wife for first time in 20 years after epic sulk
A husband in Japan went for 20 years without speaking to his wife because he was jealous of the attention she paid to their children, according to reports.
Eventually, the couple's desperate 18-year-old son wrote to a Hokkaido TV show asking them to fix the situation as he had never heard his parents have a conversation.
Dad Otou Katayama would reportedly only grunt and nod in response to wife Yumi's efforts to speak to him, despite the pair having three grown-up children.
Rebecca Ferguson says yes to singing at Donald Trump's inauguration - as long as she can sing Strange Fruit
Rebecca Ferguson has said she will sing at Donald Trump's inauguration as US President on one condition - she wants to sing Strange Fruit, the anti-lynching anthem popularised by Billie Holiday.
First recorded by Holiday in 1939 and covered by Nina Simone in 1965, Strange Fruit is one of the US' most famous songs about racism, and paints a disturbing picture of lynching victims.
"Southern trees bear strange fruit / Blood on the leaves and blood at the root / Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze / Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees."
"I've been asked and this is my answer," said Ferguson, who is mixed-race with a Jamaican father, on Twitter.
