US News

A surfer has been killed in an “apparent shark attack” off the central coast of California on Christmas Eve, authorities have said. The surfer, whose identity has not yet been released, was found in the water near Morro Rock, about 200 miles (320km) north of Los Angeles. in Los Angeles, California, at around 10.45am on

Scientists say a “new era of astronomy” could be brought in as they prepare to launch the James Webb Telescope today. The device is expected to profoundly transform scientists’ understanding of the universe and our place in it. NASA, which produced the $10bn infrared telescope in partnership with the European and Canadian space agencies, has

A White House Christmas event took an awkward turn on Friday when a caller dropped a vulgar anti-Biden slogan into a conversation with the US president.  Joe Biden was hosting a traditional festive phone call with children tracking Father Christmas’ sleigh when their father told the president “Let’s go Brandon”. Mr Biden, apparently unaware of

A 14-year-old girl has been shot and killed in a Los Angeles clothing shop’s dressing room after police opened fire on an assault suspect. Police also shot and killed the suspect at the Burlington shop in the North Hollywood area of San Fernando Valley, police said. A man had been acting erratically and threatening to

A former US police officer who said she mistakenly fired her gun instead of her Taser in the fatal shooting of a man has been found guilty of manslaughter. Kimberly Potter was convicted over the death of 20-year-old motorist Daunte Wright during a traffic stop in April in Minneapolis. Potter, 49, was found guilty of

Five suspects have been arrested after US congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon was carjacked in Philadelphia. The Democrat representative for Pennsylvania’s 5th congressional district was held at gunpoint as her car was stolen on Wednesday afternoon. She was unharmed in the incident which is said to have occurred as she walked to her sport utility vehicle

Ghislaine Maxwell will spend her 60th birthday in prison after the jury deliberating her fate was sent home for Christmas. The former girlfriend of disgraced billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein turns 60 this Saturday, 25 December, with the jury not expected to return until next Monday. Jurors ended their second full day of deliberations into the

The stars of Sex And The City have said they are “deeply saddened” by sexual assault allegations made against co-star Chris Noth. Two women have accused Noth, who played Mr Big in the hit series, of assaults in 2004 and 2015. The actor has called the claims “categorically false” and said the encounters were consensual.

The US government is buying 500 million at-home rapid COVID tests that Americans will be able to order online for free starting in January, Joe Biden says. The president also announced that more testing sites will be set up. And 1,000 military medical personnel will be deployed as part of efforts to help hospitals overwhelmed

A group of missionaries, who trekked for up to 10 miles by moonlight with a baby and a toddler to escape their kidnappers in Haiti, are being reunited with their families in America. The 12 people, from Christian Aid Ministries, a US-based church, took their chance to slip past guards on 15 December and used

Omicron is now the dominant form of coronavirus in the US and made up 73% of new cases last week, according to federal health officials. It represents a near six-fold increase in the variant’s share of infections in just one week. In some areas Omicron is even more dominant, responsible for an estimated 90% of

Dr Anthony Fauci says Omicron is “raging around the world” as he warned of the increased risk posed to unvaccinated people. President Joe Biden’s chief medical officer said the new variant has an “extraordinary capability” for transmission. He called on Americans to get their vaccines, take tests and wear face masks in a bid to

A tornado carried away two babies in a bath but they survived relatively unscathed, their grandmother says. Clara Lutz put 15-month-old Kaden and three-month-old Dallas in a bathtub to protect them as deadly tornadoes wreaked havoc in the US last week. She told a local TV station she left them with a blanket, a pillow

Partial human remains found nearly 40 years ago in a bin bag have been confirmed as those of Frank Little Jr – a former songwriter and guitarist for R&B group The O’Jays. The bag was found on 18 February, 1982, behind a now-closed business in Twinsburg, about 25 miles southeast of Cleveland. But it wasn’t

An 18-year-old woman and a 13-year-old boy managed to escape a burning building in New York by climbing out a window and scaling down a pipe, video footage has shown. The fire broke out on the fourth floor of an apartment block, located in Avenue D, in the East Village area of Manhattan, at around

Joe Biden has visited the graves of his first wife and infant daughter, as he marks 49 years since they were killed in a car crash. The US president visited St Joseph on the Brandywine Roman Catholic Church in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware on Saturday with First Lady Jill Biden and daughter Ashley. Mr

Ghislaine Maxwell’s legal team at her trial has tried to discredit her accusers by suggesting there were discrepancies between the statements they gave to the FBI and what they have said in court. Four women, testifying for the prosecution, allege Maxwell recruited and groomed them when they were teenagers for sexual abuse by her ex-boyfriend

Sex And The City star Chris Noth has said allegations of sexual assault made against him by two different women are “categorically false”. The US actor, best known for his role as Mr Big in the hit TV series and current spin-off And Just Like That, has been accused of assaulting two women more than

A former employee of Jeffrey Epstein has told Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial that she “never” witnessed any misconduct by the British socialite in the six years she worked with her. Cimberly Espinosa, 55, started working for J Epstein & Co as a legal assistant in October 1996 when she was 28 years old. She later became

The prosecution case against Ghislaine Maxwell called 24 witnesses over ten days, including four accusers, but rested at least a week earlier than expected. That left the defence scrambling to put together its list of witnesses. They now have 35 but not all of them will be called. Maxwell‘s lawyers have also taken the extraordinary