Residents have been urged to remain calm after a New York doctor, who had recently travelled to Guinea, tested positive for Ebola.

A small plane with its pilot slumped over flew a ghostly 1,700-mile journey down the Atlantic Coast shadowed by two US fighter jets before finally crashing in the waters off Jamaica.

At least nine people have died as a winter storm slammed into the north eastern United States bringing travel chaos as it dumped nearly two feet of snow in some areas.

A passenger train derailed in New York today killing four people and injuring 63 others as it came to rest just inches from the water, authorities said.

New York state is poised to be the first in the US to pass tough new gun control measures since last month’s horrifying school shootings.

More New Yorkers awoke today to power being restored for the first time since Superstorm Sandy pummelled the region, but patience was wearing thin among those in the region who have been without power for most of the week.

NEW YORK CITY was slowly getting back to business as usual after Hurricane Irene, but hundreds of thousands of people who normally travel in from the surrounding area faced a tortuous commute as flooding knocked out transit routes.

Tropical storm-force winds from Hurricane Irene have begun lashing the east coast of the US, with the potential to cause billions of dollars in damage.