Tokyo — The slow demise of a stray whale that spent its last days circling Osaka Bay not only saddened TV viewers across Japan, it also alarmed cetacean experts who called the whale the latest casualty of a warming planet. “Whales used to lose their way every three years or so,” Yasunobu Nabeshima, a visiting researcher at the Osaka Museum …

Washington — President Biden said Monday that a deal between Israel and Hamas for a cease-fire in Gaza is close. “My national security adviser tells me that we’re close, we’re close, it’s not done yet. And my hope is that by next Monday we’ll have a cease-fire,” Mr. Biden told reporters during a stop in New York City. Mr. Biden …

Three NASA astronauts and their Russian cosmonaut crewmate flew to the Kennedy Space Center on Sunday to prepare for launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket early Friday, kicking off a planned six-month tour of duty aboard the International Space Station. Flying in from the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Crew 8 commander Matthew Dominick, co-pilot Michael Barratt, Jeanette Epps …