US

The first prisoner to be executed in South Carolina in more than 10 years has chosen to die by firing squad rather than in the electric chair. Richard Bernard Moore, 57, is also the first inmate in the US state to select his execution method after a law was enacted last year making electrocution the

Elon Musk is “not sure” whether his attempt to take over Twitter for $41bn will succeed, he has told a conference in Vancouver. The meme-posting billionaire added that he had a “Plan B” if his offer to buy to buy Twitter for $54.20 a share was turned down – and criticised Mark Zuckerberg’s model of

The families of the victims endured harrowing testimony about life and death in captivity at the hands of the so-called IS Beatles. When the guilty verdict in the trial of ‘IS Beatle’ El Shafee Elsheikh was read out, Diane Foley, whose son James was 40 when he was murdered, closed her eyes tightly and tilted

Police in the US have released footage of an incident where a black man was fatally shot in the back of the head by a police officer. Patrick Lyoya, 26, was stopped earlier this month for driving with a licence plate that did not match the vehicle, when he tried to run from the unidentified

A man arrested and charged with a terrorism offence after an attack on the New York subway called police himself and told them to come and get him, officials say. Ten people were shot and wounded, and a dozen others were treated for smoke inhalation and other injuries on Tuesday, when a gunman set off

IS “Beatle” El Shafee Elsheikh has been found guilty of hostage-taking and conspiring to murder journalists and aid workers in Syria. The 33-year-old former British national was found to be part of an Islamic State terrorist cell that operated in Iraq and Syria, and whose members were nicknamed “The Beatles” because of their UK accents.

The rollercoaster story of Elon Musk becoming Twitter’s largest single shareholder is set to continue, as another shareholder has filed a lawsuit against him. The lawsuit alleges that Mr Musk failed to disclose his 9.2% stake in the company, worth almost $3bn, within the proper time to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Under US

Police have released details of a “person of interest” they are searching for following a shooting on a rush-hour subway train in New York. Frank R James is 62 with addresses in Philadelphia and Wisconsin, officers said late on Tuesday. At least 10 people were injured after a gunman in a construction vest donned a

Tough sanctions against the international Kinahan crime cartel have been imposed by the US government, as part of a major new operation against the gang by American, Irish and British authorities. The three most senior members – Christopher Kinahan Sr, Daniel Kinahan and Christopher Kinahan Jr – as well as four other gang members, and

Pop star Britney Spears has revealed she is pregnant with her third child – months after winning her conservatorship legal battle. The singer shared the news in a post on Instagram saying she had got the test after partner Sam Asghari teased her about being “food pregnant”. “So I got a pregnancy test … and

US citizens are now able to select a gender-neutral “X” on their passport. Some 1.2 million and four million people in the US are estimated to be nonbinary and intersex respectively, according to the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law and interACT, an intersex advocacy group. Many cannot get official identification that reflects

A murder charge against a Texas woman over a “self-induced abortion” will be dropped, according to local officials. Lizelle Herrera, 26, was arrested on Friday for “intentionally and knowingly caused the death of an individual by self-induced abortion”, according to the local sheriff’s office. Gocha Allen Ramirez, the district attorney in Starr County, told Sky

NFL quarterback Dwayne Haskins has died aged 24 after being hit by a dump truck while out walking in south Florida. The Pittsburgh Steelers star was trying to cross a highway while there was oncoming traffic when he was struck, and was pronounced dead at the scene. The Florida Highway Patrol said the incident happened

A woman in Texas has been charged with murder over what law enforcement described as a “self-induced abortion”. Lizelle Herrera, 26, was arrested by the sheriff’s office in Starr County near the US-Mexico border in the southern tip of the state, according to Associated Press. The arrest has been met by several protests as Texas

Alabama’s governor has signed into law new rules that could see doctors face jail if they continue to prescribe hormone treatment and puberty-blocking medication to transgender youths. LGBTQ advocates have described it as a combination “bathroom bill” and “Don’t Say Gay” bill, echoing similarly controversial legislation recently passed in other US states. The Alabama bills

Will Smith will not be allowed to attend any Academy events for 10 years after slapping comedian Chris Rock on stage at the ceremony. The board of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which organises the Oscars, announced the decision after meeting to discuss possible sanctions following the star’s outburst at the event.

A boy was left with a fractured skull and brain damage when he was accidentally hit by a stray throw at a professional baseball game. Bryson Galaz, aged six, was struck during a warmup when Los Angeles Angels pitcher Keynan Middleton threw a ball to a teammate, who missed the catch. The child’s mother has

Ketanji Brown Jackson has been confirmed as the first black woman to sit on the US Supreme Court in its 233-year history. The judge secured the life-time role following a 53-47 vote in the US Senate, following fierce questioning from critics. Judge Jackson, 51, will also be the first former public defender to sit on

An “aggressive” fox that bit a congressman and at least eight other people outside the US Capitol has tested positive for rabies. Police managed to apprehend the fox on Tuesday after several reports of attacks around Senate office buildings in Washington DC. It was humanely euthanized the following day so officials could undertake a rabies

The US has announced sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s two adult daughters. The latest move is partly in response to scenes in Bucha, near Kyiv, where more than 300 bodies have been discovered, including some civilians with their hands tied behind their backs. The US believes many of the Russian president’s assets are hidden

US police have identified the so-called “I-65 Killer”, also known as the “Days Inn Killer”, who murdered three motel clerks near a Midwest highway in the late 1980s. Harry Edward Greenwell, who died aged 68 in 2013, has been named after testing of crime scene samples found a match that was “99.9999% positive”, Indiana State

A man arrested over a mass shooting that left six people dead had posted a live Facebook video of himself posing with a handgun just hours before the incident, police have said. Smiley Martin, 27, was found at the scene with gunshot wounds, and taken to hospital where he was “quickly identified as a person

Britney Spears has announced she is writing a new tell-all memoir, saying the process has been “healing and therapeutic”. The pop star, who was freed from a controversial 13-year conservatorship arrangement in November 2020, says the experience has confronted her with memories of her early life, and experiences under the court order. It comes after

Sacramento Police have said they have made an arrest after a mass shooting in California’s state capital during the early hours of Sunday morning. Police said that more than 100 shots were fired in the Sacramento mass shooting, which killed six people and left 12 wounded. 26-year-old Dandre Martin, 26, has been arrested as a

NASA has cancelled an important “wet test” of the Artemis 1 Space Launch System (SLS) due to safety concerns with its $1bn launch platform. The wet test for the next-generation moon rocket was essentially a dress rehearsal, featuring everything necessary for preparing an actual launch – including filling it with fuel – without actually taking

Six people have been killed and 10 injured in an early morning mass shooting in California’s state capital. Police are hunting for at least one gunman in connection with the killings in the downtown area of Sacramento, which is packed with restaurants and bars, at about 2am on Sunday. Officers had been on patrol when

Former US soccer goalkeeper Hope Solo has been arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. A spokesperson for Winston-Salem Police Department in North Carolina said the 40-year-old was arrested in a Walmart carpark on Thursday. Her two-year-old twins were in the car when she was found passed out behind the wheel with the engine running,

Will Smith has resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences after he slapped Chris Rock during last Sunday’s Oscars ceremony. In a statement, Smith said: “I have directly responded to the Academy’s disciplinary hearing notice, and I will fully accept any and all consequences for my conduct. My actions at the 94th

Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking conviction has been upheld by a US judge. Her request for a retrial was rejected after a juror admitted in a TV interview that he had been sexually abused, and falsely stated before the trial that he had not been. The court ruled the juror still “testified credibly and truthfully”, and

Five foetuses have been discovered inside a Washington home, police have said, reportedly belonging to an anti-abortion activist. Police received a tip-off about “potential bio-hazard material” and found the five foetuses in the home on 6th Street, South East, on Wednesday, the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia said. Lauren Handy has been

Bruce Willis’ stunt double has said the Die Hard actor changed in the months before he was diagnosed with a condition that causes difficulties with language or speech. The Pulp Fiction star, 67, is retiring from acting following his aphasia diagnosis, which his daughter said is “impacting his cognitive abilities”. ‘He just seemed sidetracked’ Stuart

Chris Rock has broken his silence over being slapped by Will Smith at the Oscars after receiving several standing ovations from a Boston audience upon returning to the stage for the first time since the incident. “How was your weekend?” the US comedian asked a sold-out crowd at Boston’s Wilbur Theatre on Wednesday night, drawing

A British-born member of the so-called Islamic State Beatles nicknamed Jihadi George was part of a “brutal hostage taking scheme” where captors “seemed to enjoy” beating detainees, a court in the US has heard. Prosecutors say El Shafee Elsheikh and two other Britons were “utterly terrifying” and abuse carried out was “unrelenting and unpredictable”. Elsheikh