US

US basketball star Brittney Griner has been freed in a prisoner swap, a US official has said. She had been imprisoned in Russia after being convicted in August and sentenced to nine years in prison. Ms Griner was detained in February when customs agents said they found vape canisters containing cannabis oil in her luggage

US basketball star Brittney Griner has arrived back in America after being freed in a prisoner swap with convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, known as the “Merchant of Death”. The 32-year-old WNBA star was flown to San Antonio, Texas. US special presidential envoy, Roger D. Carstens, said: “So happy to have Brittney back on

Elon Musk has questioned the mayor of San Francisco’s “priorities” as he alleged the city is more concerned about Twitter staff sleeping in the office than about children suffering accidental overdoses. The Twitter owner’s outburst followed controversy about bedrooms appearing at the social media site’s office in the northwest California city. “Sad little conference-room sleeping

Democrat Raphael Warnock has been re-elected to the US Senate in a crucial win for President Joe Biden, NBC News has projected. His expected victory gives Democrats an outright majority in the Senate after two years under a 50-50 divide, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting tie-breaking votes. Mr Warnock defeated Republican rival Herschel Walker

Donald Trump’s real estate company has been found guilty of running a criminal scheme to defraud tax authorities for 15 years. The scheme operated by The Trump Organization included avoiding paying personal income taxes on perks such as rent-free apartments and luxury cars. “The smorgasbord of benefits is designed to keep its top executives happy

The family of Harry Dunn is “horrified” that the American driver who killed him has been told by the US government that she does not have to return to the UK for her sentencing. Radd Seiger, a spokesman for the family, said his parents believe the US government is “actively interfering in our criminal justice

Kirstie Alley – who shot to fame after appearing in the US sitcom Cheers – has died at the age of 71. In a statement, her children said: “We are sad to inform you that our incredible, fierce and loving mother has passed away after a short battle with cancer, only recently discovered. “She was

Amber Heard has filed an appeal against her ex-husband Johnny Depp’s US libel lawsuit win. Following a trial lasting several weeks earlier in the year, a jury in Virginia found in favour of Depp, ruling that a 2018 Washington Post article written by Heard was defamatory. The actor was awarded $15m (£12m) by the court

More than two million fans of a TikTok-famous pug have marked the death of the social media star and flooded the owner’s page with messages of condolence. Noodle the pug rose to fame on the platform with “no bones”, a game his owner Jonathan Graziano played nearly every morning which recorded whether Noodle would stand

The US’ newest high-tech nuclear stealth bomber has made its debut after years of secret development. The B-21 raider, which will be able to deliver both conventional and nuclear weapons around the world using long-range and mid-air refuelling capabilities, is part of the Pentagon’s answer to rising concerns over a future conflict with China. It

A 33-year-old man has been arrested following the fatal shooting of rapper Takeoff. Patrick Xavier Clark has been charged with the murder of the Migos star, who was killed last month outside a bowling alley in the US city of Houston, Texas. Takeoff was the youngest member of the Grammy-nominated rap trio, which also featured

The use of hateful language on Twitter has increased substantially since Elon Musk took over, according to new research. Mr Musk completed his $44bn acquisition of the social networking platform in late October, promptly laying off roughly half of the company’s 8,000 workers. Although the head of trust and safety, Yoel Roth, said at the

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has filed for bankruptcy. Jones, the founder of far-right conspiracy website InfoWars, owes nearly $1.5bn in damages to families of victims who died in the Sandy Hook school shooting. He was sued after he accused the relatives of children and teachers who died of being actors who faked the massacre. Jones,

Prince William will be greeted by President Biden on the final day of his trip to Boston. The Prince and Princess of Wales are in the northeastern city to announce the winners of the Earthshot Prize. The couple’s three-day visit has been overshadowed by the Buckingham Palace race row and the surprise release of Harry

A golfer has been accused of biting off the nose of his competitor in a casino car park during an argument over their game, police have said. The suspect Mark Wells, 51, of Biloxi, Mississippi, initially fled the scene before turning himself in, Bay St Louis police chief Toby Schwartz said. The nose was not

A 10-year-old boy allegedly shot and killed his mother because she would not buy him a virtual reality headset. The boy at first claimed the shooting was an accident, but later said he intentionally aimed at his mother. He is said to have logged into her Amazon account and ordered a headset the morning after

A new drug is making headlines around the world for being the first ever to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. After an 18-month trial of 1,800 patients, lecanemab slowed patients’ mental decline by 27%. Although scientists are hailing a “new era” in treatment, strains on the NHS and the scale and complexity of the

Doctors have hailed a “new era” of medicine after a study showed for the first time that a drug can slow the debilitating symptoms of Alzheimer’s. Results from the clinical trial also revealed that the drug lecanemab cleared clumps of a protein called amyloid – thought to be a key cause of the most common

A woman who was abducted when she was a baby has been reunited with her family 51 years later. Melissa Highsmith went missing in 1971 when, at just 22 months old, she was taken by a babysitter from her parents’ Fort Worth, Texas, home. Melissa’s mother Alta Apantenco was working as a waitress and in

Former US vice president Mike Pence has criticised Donald Trump for dining with a Holocaust-denying white nationalist and the rapper formerly known as Kanye West. Mr Pence is among a number of Republicans calling on the former US president to apologise for what he has described as “profoundly poor judgement”. The group – Mr Trump,