US News

While statistics show most of America’s “active shooter” incidents are over within minutes, it took police in Texas up to an hour to storm the classroom where gunman Salvador Ramos massacred 19 children and two teachers. At a remarkable news briefing amid growing pressure on the authorities to explain the response time, a top official admitted

US President Joe Biden is visiting the scene of country’s largest school shooting in a decade to meet and comfort victims’ families. The president and First Lady Jill Biden will visit a memorial at the school in Uvalde, Texas, attend a church service and also meet with survivors and first responders. It comes as investigators

The 18-year-old who carried out a mass shooting in a Texas elementary school was given the nickname “The Yubo School Shooter” on a social media app he used. Salvador Ramos shot his grandmother before killing 19 children and two teachers this week. He did not leave a note explaining his actions, but messages Ramos sent

In a series of sheds on the edge of a Texas airfield sits the training centre that has set the national standard for how American police deal with active gunmen. It is barely a hundred miles from Uvalde, where 19 students and two teachers were shot dead at their school on Tuesday. The admission by

Donald Trump has described the most recent US school shooting as a “savage and barbaric atrocity” but has criticised those who have called for stricter gun laws. The former US president was a guest speaker at the convention in Houston of the National Rifle Association, a gun rights group. The convention was taking place just

It was the “wrong decision” not to storm the classroom where a gunman was holed up killing primary school children, a Texas official admitted. The extraordinary admission came on Friday at a highly-charged press conference in Uvalde, Texas, where parents have been demanding answers about why 19 students and two teachers lost their lives in

Hollywood actor Kevin Spacey has been charged with four counts of sexual assault against three men, the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has said. Rosemary Ainslie, head of the CPS Special Crime Division, said: “The CPS has authorised criminal charges against Kevin Spacey, 62, for four counts of sexual assault against three men. “He has

Amber Heard made an emotional return to the stand as Johnny Depp’s libel trial against her entered its final stretch, reminding jurors she is “a human being” and saying: “I just want Johnny to leave me alone.” In her second round of direct evidence in the high-profile case on Thursday, the actress was tearful as

Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro and Kevin Costner have paid tribute to the “uniquely gifted” Ray Liotta, who has died age 67. The actor died in his sleep in the Dominican Republic where he was making a new film. No foul play is suspected. Liotta is best known for playing real-life mobster Henry Hill in

Engineers have unveiled the smallest remote-controlled walking robot ever created – even tinier than a flea. The tiny robotic crab can “walk, bend, twist, turn and jump” according to engineers from Northwestern University in the US. It could signal the beginning of a new era of microscale robotics. The little machine isn’t powered by miniaturised

Mass shootings in the United States are always followed by desperate calls for gun reform by Democrats, anti-firearms campaigners and victims’ families. In the wake of Tuesday’s massacre in Uvalde, Texas, which killed 19 pupils and two teachers at Robb Elementary School, President Joe Biden demanded America “turn pain into action” and asked: “When in

The man who identified victims of the Texas shooting said he found friends’ children and one of his former schoolmates lying among the dead. Eulalio Diaz Jr, Uvalde’s justice of the peace, had the awful task of identifying the bodies. He acts as coroner because the small town does not have a medical examiner. He

The Duchess of Sussex has laid flowers at the site of a school shooting in Texas in which 19 children and two teachers were killed. Meghan placed a bouquet of white roses tied with a purple ribbon at a row of crosses put up in memory of the victims in Uvalde. The blooms were laid

Questions are being asked about how much time elapsed before police stormed a Texas primary school classroom to end a rampage by a gunman inside. Texas Department of Public Safety director Steve McCraw said that 40 minutes to an hour had elapsed from when Salvador Ramos first opened fire on the school security officer, to

A girl saw her teacher killed in the Texas shooting but reportedly survived by lying on one of her classmates and smearing the girl’s blood on herself to “play dead”. Miah Cerrillo’s family have been describing the terrifying ordeal suffered by the 11-year-old, who has been left with bullet fragments in her body and singed

The 18-year-old who shot his grandmother before killing 21 people – including 19 children – at a Texas primary school is not believed to have left a manifesto or note explaining his actions. Those who knew him say he was bullied and didn’t have many friends. But messages Salvador Ramos sent to strangers online have

Police interview footage shows the moment Alec Baldwin put his hand over his mouth and sat in silence after being told Halyna Hutchins had died after being shot on the set of Rust. The cinematographer died after a prop gun held by Baldwin was discharged during rehearsals for the western film in New Mexico in

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has asked whether Elon Musk’s deal to buy Twitter will give China “a bit of leverage” over the platform. Twitter is blocked in China but Mr Musk‘s electric car business Tesla is dependent on the company’s plant in Shanghai and sales across the country for its global profits. Explaining the motivation

US Vice President Kamala Harris has tested positive for COVID-19. A statement from her press secretary said she had “exhibited no symptoms” and will isolate while continuing to work. “She has not been a close contact to the President or First Lady due to their respective recent travel schedules,” the statement added. “She will follow

Never-seen-before footage has been released of the moments before and after Rust cinemaphotographer Halyna Hutchins was killed on set. New Mexico Police has made public all the files associated with the ongoing criminal investigation into her death. One of the clips shows police and medics racing to the scene, with bodycam footage showing first responders