US

New York state has sued PepsiCo for allegedly polluting one of its rivers with plastic bottles and wrappers. The lawsuit accuses the soft drinks company and its Frito-Lay subsidiaries of creating a public nuisance by the mass production of the single-use items, some of which inevitably fall or blow into the Buffalo River when they

A mother in Virginia has been sentenced to 21 months in prison after her six-year-old son shot his school teacher with a gun. Deja Nicole Taylor, 26, pleaded guilty in June to possessing a firearm while using cannabis and making a false statement while purchasing a pistol. Taylor also pleaded guilty to a charge of

Direct lines of communication between American and Chinese military forces are to be reopened for the first time in more than a year, Joe Biden has announced. Speaking after a meeting with China’s premier Xi Jinping in California, the US president said the restoration of military-to-military communications would help to prevent accidents which could spiral

Friends stars Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer have paid tribute to Matthew Perry. Aniston, who played Rachel Green in the show, wrote in an Instagram post: “Oh boy this one has cut deep… Having to say goodbye to our Matty has been an insane wave of emotions that I’ve never experienced before. “We all experience

Bernie Sanders was forced to step in to prevent a fist fight during a heated war of words at a US Senate hearing. The experienced senator played peacekeeper after Republican senator Markwayne Mullin, a former-cage-fighter-turned-politician, took to his feet to confront union chief Sean O’Brien. Moments earlier, Mr Mullin branded Mr O’Brien, the president of

Matt LeBlanc has paid tribute to his Friends co-star Matthew Perry, saying it was an “honour to share the stage with you and to call you my friend”. In a post on Instagram, LeBlanc wrote: “It is with a heavy heart I say goodbye. The times we had together are honestly among the favourite times

A five-year-old girl whose body was found encased in concrete in the US 35 years ago has finally been identified, police say – and her mother and a live-in boyfriend have been charged with her murder. DNA tests and a crucial tip given earlier this year finally gave officers the breakthrough they needed, as they

A “courageous” teenager in the US was beaten to death when he confronted a mob over a friend who was being bullied, his family has said. Jonathan Lewis, 17, was attacked by up to 15 people near a school in Las Vegas, according to reports. The teenager had confronted the group after “one of his

Five US service members have been killed on a routine training mission after the military aircraft carrying them suffered a “mishap” and crashed into the sea. The military personnel were taking part in a routine air refuelling mission in the eastern Mediterranean Sea on Friday as part of their training, the US defence department confirmed

A menu for first-class passengers travelling on the Titanic has sold for more than £80,000 at auction. The “remarkable” relic fetched £84,000 at Henry Aldridge & Son in Devizes, Wiltshire, on Saturday. The menu, which shows signs of water damage, boasts a menu of oysters, beef, spring lamb and mallard duck. It was served on

A pond in Hawaii has mysteriously turned bright pink – with experts voicing concerns about the bizarre phenomenon. Curious onlookers have been flocking to the pond after images first appeared on social media. Volunteers at the Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge on Maui, some of whom have been around the water for 70 years, say

A man who spent 35 years behind bars after being wrongly convicted of sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl has been freed from prison thanks to a DNA breakthrough. Louis Wright, now aged 65, had lived near the child’s home in Albion, Michigan, at the time of the attack in 1988 and an off-duty officer reported

Surgeons have performed the world’s first ever whole-eye transplant, a feat hailed as a breakthrough despite the patient not yet regaining his sight. Doctors “never expected it to work at all”, patient Aaron James said, but the eye has shown signs of health, such as functioning blood vessels and a promising retina. It has been

Three years ago in Detroit, Robert Williams arrived home from work to find the police waiting at his front door, ready to arrest him for a crime he hadn’t committed. Facial recognition technology used by officers had mistaken Williams for a suspect who had stolen thousands of dollars worth of watches. The system linked a

Bruce Willis’s daughter Tallulah has spoken about her father’s “really aggressive” dementia and why it is so important for her family to be open about it.  The Hollywood actor, 68, was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) a year after his family revealed he was suffering from aphasia, a condition affecting speech and language. “What’s going

Donald Trump’s rivals for the Republican presidential nomination have taken to the stage in Florida as they try to dislodge the frontrunner from his commanding lead in opinion polls. Local Governor Ron DeSantis and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley both criticised the former president for skipping a third event. Meanwhile, Mr Trump – who was

In downtown Miami at what is usually a centre for the performing arts, preparations are under way for a piece of political theatre. But the man who should be the lead act is setting up his own show a few miles up the road. Posters for the third Republican debate have been slapped on every

A former CIA officer accused of drugging and sexually assaulting at least two dozen women during various overseas postings has pleaded guilty to federal sex abuse charges. Brian Jeffrey Raymond kept nearly 500 videos and photographs he took of naked, unconscious women, including many in which he can be seen opening their eyelids, groping or

A Donald Trump supporter who bear-sprayed at least eight police officers during the US Capitol riots has been jailed for three years. Edward Rodriguez was identified by members of the so-called Sedition Hunters – an online community of investigators helping the FBI and police find people who allegedly committed crimes during the riots on 6

At East Forest’s ceremonial concerts, listeners are given the space to lie down on mats to take in the music. You could be looking at a yoga class; a dimly lit room filled with bodies sprawled savasana-style, aromatherapy oils wafting in the air. It certainly doesn’t sound like a typical music gig. The US electro-acoustic

One of the wildlife preserve owners who featured in popular Netflix series Tiger King has pleaded guilty to animal trafficking and money laundering. Bhagavan “Doc” Antle oversaw the sale or purchase of lion cubs, tigers, cheetah cl=ubs and a juvenile chimpanzee, which are all protected as endangered species, according to the US Justice Department. The

Donald Trump is giving evidence at his civil trial in New York. It comes after his sons, Eric and Donald Jr, both gave evidence to the trial last week. The former US president is accused of inflating his net worth. He denies any wrongdoing. Trump briefly appeared in the dock last week and was fined

A mayor in Alabama has died in an apparent suicide – days after a right-wing site published pictures of him wearing women’s clothes and makeup.   F.L. “Bubba” Copeland – who was also a pastor at a nearby church – fatally shot himself on Friday, according to Sky’s US partner NBC News. Mr Copeland had

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said he is committed to the establishment of a Palestinian state in an unannounced visit to the West Bank – as Hamas claims Israel struck a refugee camp in Gaza. Continuing his tour of the region, Mr Blinken met the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, in the city

What will decide the election outcome? To explore what might shape the next 12 months, we brought together politicians from both sides of the House of Representatives – Democrat Adam Smith, and Republican Victoria Spartz. Adam Smith: Certainly abortion is a huge issue. The efforts to ban abortion nationwide has certainly motivated a lot of

A nurse is facing multiple charges of administering lethal or potentially lethal doses of insulin to 22 patients at several health care centres across Pennsylvania. Heather Pressdee was charged on Thursday with two counts of first-degree murder, 17 counts of attempted murder and 19 counts of neglect of a care-dependent person, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s

Russell Brand has been accused of sexually assaulting an extra on the set of 2011 film Arthur. A lawsuit was filed in New York, and is the first accusation to be made against him in court. British police are still investigating claims against Brand after multiple women made accusations, including rape, against the comedian in

Sam Bankman-Fried has been found guilty of defrauding customers of his now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange in one of the biggest frauds ever. The 31-year-old could be sentenced to more than 100 years in prison after cheating thousands of FTX customers out of billions of dollars. A Manhattan jury convicted him on all seven counts after a

Donald Trump Jr asked a courtroom sketch artist to “make me look sexy” after giving testimony during a $250m fraud trial. The former US President’s eldest son made the request after spending several hours on the witness stand during a second day of giving evidence at the civil hearing on Thursday. Mr Trump Jr, 45,

A woman charged with murdering a professional cyclist in Texas tracked her movements on the exercise app Strava before shooting her, prosecutors say. Kaitlin Armstrong, 35, is charged with murdering Moriah “Mo” Wilson, a 25-year-old elite cyclist who had allegedly been romantically involved with the same man as Armstrong. “The last thing Mo did on

It looks as if the end is nigh for WeWork, the flexible workspace provider that once commanded a valuation of $47bn. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the company plans to file for bankruptcy protection as early as next week. It will be an ignominious end for a once-vaunted business seen as synonymous, in

The second person to receive a heart transplanted from a pig has died, nearly six weeks after the highly experimental surgery. Lawrence Faucette, 58, was dying from heart failure and ineligible for a traditional heart transplant when he received the genetically modified pig heart on 20 September. The heart had seemed healthy for the first month,

Friends actor Matthew Perry died at his Los Angeles home on Saturday as a result of a suspected drowning. He was 54. Tributes have poured in for the beloved star, who played Chandler Bing in the sitcom from 1994 until 2004. He became a household name playing the warm and witty 20-something in New York