US News

Singer and actress Shonka Dukureh, who starred as blues singer Big Mama Thornton in the film Elvis, has been found dead at her home in Nashville, Tennessee. The 44-year-old was found unresponsive by one of her two young children who she lived in an apartment with, the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department said in a statement.

Donald Trump watched the Capitol riots on television in his dining room and failed to take “immediate action in a time of crisis”, an investigation has heard. During the eighth hearing into the January 6 riots, the committee was told that the former president was aiming to stop or delay the congressional certification of Joe

US President Joe Biden has tested positive for COVID. His press secretary announced the news, adding that the president is “experiencing very mild symptoms”. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Mr Biden, 79, tested positive this morning, adding that he is fully vaccinated and twice boosted. The president said he’s “doing great” and tweeted: “Folks, I’m

Vladimir Putin is “probably too healthy”, the head of the CIA has said, playing down rumours the Russian president is suffering a serious illness such as cancer. William Burns, in a rare public appearance, also said Russia’s leader would be proved wrong in a belief he can win a bloody war of attrition against Ukraine

A university in Texas has announced it will offer a course based on the work of former One Direction star Harry Styles. The course is titled Harry Styles and the Cult of Celebrity: Identity, the Internet, and European Pop Culture and will be on offer at Texas State University Honours College from next spring. It

A $5,000 reward has been posted as police continue to search for a man allegedly involved in the attempted murder of Lady Gaga’s dog walker, after he was accidentally released from jail. James Howard Jackson was being held on an attempted murder charge but was released from a jail in Los Angeles “due to a

A grizzly bear which mauled a woman to death in a rare predatory attack in Montana had become “food-conditioned”. Leah Davis Lokan, 65, had encountered the bear about an hour before the attack and was able to scare it away, but it returned around 4am and killed her. Experts believe the bear was attracted to

An internal review has been launched into the inaction of dozens of police officers who failed to intervene as a gunman murdered 19 children and two teachers at a Texas primary school. The massacre by Salvador Ramos at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde on 24 May was the focus of a damning report released on

A damning new report into the Uvalde school massacre has condemned the almost 400 law enforcement officers who flocked to the scene for ‘failing to prioritise innocent victims’ safety over their own’. High school dropout Salvador Ramos killed 21 people, including 19 children, at Robb Elementary School in Texas on 24 May. A 77-page report,

Three people have been killed and two injured in a shooting at a mall food court in Indiana after a man with a rifle opened fire. The man entered Greenwood Park Mall and began firing, fatally injuring three people before eventually being killed himself by an armed civilian, police say. Officers went to the mall

An elderly woman who fell into a pond in Florida was killed after being grabbed by two alligators, authorities say. She was seen falling into the water by a golf course in Englewood late on Friday and struggled to stay afloat. While she was in the water, two alligators were seen grabbing her. She was

When Donald Trump touched down in Saudi Arabia in 2017, King Salman was waiting on the tarmac. It was the president’s first overseas trip and the capital Riyadh had been transformed into a celebration of American culture, with flags, projections and music. Joe Biden‘s arrival could not have been more different. Awaiting him as he

The Saudi crown prince told Joe Biden the US had also made mistakes, after the president confronted him over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Mr Khashoggi was killed and dismembered by a hit squad in the country’s Istanbul consulate in 2018. Mr Biden said he challenged Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) over the

A five-year-old boy has shot dead his eight-year-old brother in a “tragic accident” at a US home. After a 911 call on Thursday afternoon, sheriffs went to a house in Jefferson County, Arkansas, to find a child “unresponsive” inside. The county coroner was called and the child was declared dead. Four other siblings and the

A US basketball star facing up to 10 years in a Russian jail on drug charges was prescribed medical cannabis for a chronic injury, her lawyers have said. Brittney Griner, 31, was arrested at a Moscow airport on 17 February after police said they found vape canisters containing cannabis oil in her luggage. On Friday,

Ivana Trump, the first wife of former US president Donald Trump, has died aged 73. Mr Trump made the announcement on his social media platform Truth Social. He wrote: “I am very saddened to inform all of those that loved her, of which there are many, that Ivana Trump has passed away at her home

A man has been charged with raping a 10-year-old girl after she reportedly had to travel across state lines for an abortion following the US Supreme Court’s landmark ruling. Gerson Fuentes, 27, was arrested on Tuesday and made his first court appearance in Ohio the following day. He is now being held on a $2m

Bereaved families of some of the Uvalde victims are in Washington DC this week to campaign for an end to gun violence. After a day of lobbying lawmakers to ban assault rifles like the one used to murder their loved ones, they were told a video had been leaked; CCTV from the hallways inside Robb

US First Lady Jill Biden has apologised for likening Hispanic people to tacos after her remarks were widely criticised. Mrs Biden was speaking in San Antonio, Texas, when she tried to compliment the Hispanic community by saying they were as “unique” as “breakfast tacos”. Her spokesperson Michael LaRosa said: “The first lady apologises that her