US

Jussie Smollett has been sentenced to 150 days in jail for lying to police about a racist and homophobic attack that he had staged on himself. The actor – who was best known for starring in Empire – loudly shouted after the sentencing: “I am innocent. I could have said I am guilty a long

Black Panther director Ryan Coogler was detained after being mistaken for a bank robber while trying to withdraw money from his own account, US police video footage shows. The 35-year-old was briefly held by police after he went to make a transaction at a Bank of America branch in Atlanta on 7 January. Mr Coogler

Russia could be laying the groundwork for the use of chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, the White House has warned. Press secretary Jen Psaki made the remarks in response to Russia’s claim Ukraine was running chemical and biological weapons labs with US support. Ms Psaki called the claim “preposterous” and said it could be

A terminally ill man who received a genetically-modified pig’s heart in a groundbreaking transplant has died two months after the surgery. Maryland hospital announced that David Bennett, 57, died on Tuesday. No exact cause of death has yet been established, but doctors said his condition had been deteriorating for several days. Mr Bennett’s son, David

Elon Musk has gone to court to ask a judge to free him from the constraints of a deal he made with US regulators that force him to have his tweets about Tesla pre-approved by a lawyer. Mr Musk was forced to sign the agreement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2018

A 30-year-old man has been caught with 52 lizards and snakes in his clothes trying to get past US border agents in California. Agents found the reptiles tied up in small bags concealed in the man’s jacket, pockets and groin area. The reptiles found included nine snakes and 43 horned lizards, some of which are

A woman who ran an “I love Russia” campaign in the US has been charged with acting as an unregistered agent of the Russian government. Elena Branson, who has both American and Russian citizenships, allegedly received tens of thousands of dollars from the Russian government to run the Russian Center New York, which she founded

The Pentagon has said Poland’s offer to give all of its MIG-29 fighter jets to the US so they can be passed to Ukraine is not “tenable”. Spokesman John Kirby said the proposal to deliver the planes to the US Ramstein air base in Germany “raises serious concerns for the NATO alliance”. “It is simply

The US Supreme Court has declined to hear an attempt by prosecutors to undo last year’s ruling that overturned Bill Cosby’s 2018 sexual assault conviction. The 84-year-old actor and comedian was sentenced to three to 10 years in prison in 2018 following his conviction on three counts of aggravated indecent assault. It had been alleged

Seven people, including two children, have been killed by a tornado that struck a state in the US. The tornado ripped through Madison County, which is southwest of the state capital Des Moines, in Iowa, on Saturday, the Des Moines Register reported, citing local officials. The heavy storms caused more than 10,500 people in Des

The Russian Foreign Ministry has protested to the US after a veteran senator called for Russian President Vladimir Putin to be assassinated. Moscow officials summoned the US ambassador to Russia, John Sullivan, on Saturday and told him that Lindsey Graham’s comments would be treated as a serious crime in Russia. The ministry said in a

Facebook has been blocked in Russia by the country’s communications regulator. Roskomnadzor said the move was in response to what it claimed was restricted access to Russia media on the social media platform. According to the regulator, there have been 26 cases of discrimination against Russian media by Facebook since October 2020, with access restricted

A US senator has sparked outrage after he called on Russian people to assassinate President Vladimir Putin. Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator for South Carolina, said the only way Russia’s invasion of Ukraine ends is “for somebody in Russia to take this guy out”. “Is there a Brutus in Russia? Is there a more successful

Mila Kunis and husband Ashton Kutcher have set up a fund to support Ukrainian refugees, saying they will match donations of up to $3m (£2.25m). Ukrainian-born actress Kunis, who left the country when she was seven years old, said that while she was a “proud American”, she had “never been more proud to be a

Donald Trump and his team tried “to defraud the US” by manipulating the results of the 2020 presidential election, the congressional committee investigating the Capitol riot has said. The select committee of politicians looking into what happened in Washington DC on 6 January 2021 said it has “a good-faith basis for concluding that the president

The juror who threw Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking conviction into doubt will not answer a judge’s questions on the matter, his lawyer has said. Known as Juror No 50, he failed to reveal before the trial he had been sexually abused as a child – something he shared with other jurors during his deliberations. He

They had gathered in the house chamber on Capitol Hill for the key annual moment in America’s political diary. With the yellow and the blue of the Ukrainian flag dotted through the chamber, President Joe Biden pitted democracy against autocracy; good against evil. “Six days ago,” he said, “Russia’s Vladimir Putin sought to shake the

Joe Biden has said that the Russian president must “pay a price” for his invasion of Ukraine. Mr Biden was speaking during his State Of The Union address on Tuesday evening – almost a week after Vladimir Putin ordered his troops into Ukraine. Mr Biden said: “Throughout our history we’ve learned this lesson – when

Benedict Cumberbatch has urged people to help the children and families of Ukraine “struggling to survive as rockets rain down on their cities”. The British actor used the unveiling of his star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame to call attention to the crisis, as violence continues to rage across the region following the Russian

A man has shot dead his three daughters, their chaperone and himself at a church in California. The girls were aged nine, 10 and 13. The gunman was estranged from their mother and was taking them on a supervised visit. It happened at about 5pm on Monday in Sacramento’s Arden-Arcade neighbourhood, said Sergeant Rod Grassman

The American pop legend Neil Diamond has become the latest musician to sell off the rights to his entire back catalogue, including all recordings over his career. He struck the deal with Universal Music Group for an undisclosed sum. The 81-year-old singer has sold more than 130 million records worldwide throughout his career spanning 60

Three former Minneapolis police officers have been found guilty of depriving George Floyd of his civil rights by failing to give aid when he was pinned beneath a colleague’s knee. Tou Thao, 36, J. Alexander Kueng, 28, and Thomas Lane, 38, were convicted yesterday of denying Floyd’s constitutional right to medical care while in police

A juror in the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell will be questioned by a judge to determine whether his failure to disclose being sexually abused tainted her conviction. Maxwell, 60, was found guilty of recruiting underage girls to be sexually abused by late paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein in December. The British socialite could face 65 years

President Joe Biden has announced a new wave of sanctions against Russia and said the US is deploying additional forces to Germany to bolster NATO in the face of “naked aggression” from President Vladimir Putin. Speaking during a press conference at the White House, the US president said “freedom will prevail” after Mr Putin “chose

A suspect has been arrested for allegedly stealing a crossbow by stuffing it down his trousers in Florida. Darren Durrant was shown on CCTV at the True Value Store on 2 February. The 46-year-old can be seen walking into the shop with a crutch – before taking a pair of cutting tools and removing the

Russia has launched an invasion of Ukraine after President Vladimir Putin ordered a “specialised military operation” in the Donbas region. US President Joe Biden denounced the “unprovoked and unjustified” attack on Ukraine and said the “prayers of the world” were with Ukraine – as Sky News heard explosions in Kyiv and Kharkiv. Ukraine’s foreign minister

The attorney general for Texas has said giving transition care to minors is child abuse under the state’s laws. Ken Paxton said that medical care such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy and gender-affirming surgeries “must be halted”. He said the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services “has a responsibility to act accordingly”. Mr Paxton

The asteroid which killed nearly all dinosaurs struck the Earth during the spring, according to new research. To reach their conculsions, researchers searched parts of North Dakota in the US to find fossilised paddlefishes and sturgeons that were killed when the asteroid made impact with Earth. They used powerful X-rays and carbon isotope records of

Joe Biden has announced the first wave of US sanctions against Russia in retaliation for Moscow’s actions in Ukraine. The US president said the penalties would be slapped on Russian banks and oligarchs. Mr Biden told reporters that the deployment of Russian troops in eastern Ukraine after Vladimir Putin recognised the independence of two separatist-held

A trio of white men have been found guilty of hate crimes after they murdered Ahmaud Arbery, a black man, while he was out on a run. Greg and Travis McMichael, and their neighbour William “Roddie” Bryan, have already been convicted of the murder of Mr Arbery and sentenced to life in prison. The trio

A black bear known to residents as “Hank the tank” has become the subject of a state-wide search, after breaking into more than 30 homes in California. More than 150 incident reports across Northern California and Nevada have been logged by police over a seven-month period, with residents also reporting damage to their properties as

A “major winter storm” is set to unfold across some northern tier states in the US in the next 24 hours – with temperatures in some places dropping up to 30 degrees below average, forecasters have warned. There is a risk of excessive rainfall and severe thunderstorms from the southern plains to Tennessee and the

The sister of Bernie Madoff – who was behind the largest-known Ponzi scheme in history – has died with her husband in what is thought to have been a murder-suicide. Sondra Wiener, 87, and her husband Marvin, 90, were found dead last Thursday in Boynton Beach, Florida, according to the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office. They