US

The US central bank has increased interest rates by 0.75% to combat inflation – the sharpest hike in 28 years. The Federal Reserve signalled more rate rises to come and projected a slowing economy in the months ahead, along with rising unemployment. The bank raised its benchmark rate to a range of 1.5% to 1.75%,

The US central bank has raised interest rates by 0.75 percentage points for the second time in a row in an attempt to curb soaring inflation. The US Federal Reserve said it expects that “ongoing increases” will be needed despite evidence of a slowing economy and concerns that aggressive hikes could lead to a recession.

She has four limbs, expressive eyes and likes to stroll through greenery in New York city – but Happy the elephant cannot be considered a person, a court has ruled. Happy, an elephant born in the wild in Asia in the early 1970s, was captured as a one-year-old in the early 1970s and brought to

Jason Storms, his wife Sara and their 10 children are spending the day together in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The two oldest girls play guitar and sing. Three-year-old Charlotte is pushing five-month-old Hazel around in a doll’s pram while one of their boys is scrolling on a smartphone. It could be any happy family on a sunny

Teachers and staff will be able to carry firearms into school after a maximum of 24 hours of training under new legislation. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, a Republican, signed a bill into law allowing school districts the option of arming workers on Monday. The move is being opposed by major law enforcement groups, gun control

Amber Heard has broken her silence following Johnny Depp’s win in their high-profile libel trial, saying she does not blame the jury for not believing her and that she did not have “fair representation” thanks to social media. The actress spoke out in her first on-camera interview following the jury’s verdict – which found in

A potential breakthrough that could lead to the first significant new US gun law in decades has been announced by a bipartisan group of senators. The framework for a firearms safety bill is a response to last month’s mass shootings but the proposal falls far short of tougher steps long sought by President Joe Biden

People travelling to the United States will no longer have to show proof of a negative COVID test. The change was announced by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday and came into effect on Sunday morning. Testing requirements for people entering the US from abroad was one of the last remaining

Thousands of people have rallied in Washington DC and across the US to demand politicians tighten gun controls. It comes after 19 children and two teachers were killed last month at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, but there have been many other examples of mass shootings. In Washington DC, Martin Luther King Jr’s granddaughter

A US judge has dismissed the Las Vegas rape lawsuit against football star Cristiano Ronaldo. The Manchester United star had paid a woman $375,000 in hush money after she claimed he raped her in Las Vegas in 2009. The lawsuit sought a further payout, which might have run into millions of dollars, but US District

A former US Senate candidate is trying to revive a $95m lawsuit against British actor Sacha Baron Cohen. A lawyer for Roy Moore complained the Alabama politician was unfairly treated when a judge threw out his lawsuit last July. US district Judge John Cronan ruled Mr Moore was not defamed when he appeared in Baron

Donald Trump has rebuked his daughter and former White House aide Ivanka after she rejected the former president’s claim of fraud at the 2020 US election. Mr Trump said his daughter was not involved in looking at election results and “had long since checked out”. The comments were made in the aftermath of a hearing

An investigation into the US Capitol riots has heard that close allies of former president Donald Trump – and even his daughter – rejected his false claims of election fraud, with one calling it “bulls**t”. On the first of six days of public hearings before a House of Representatives select committee, a never-seen-before 12-minute graphic

Federal prosecutors in the US have recommended that R Kelly serves at least 25 years behind bars for sexually abusing women and girls. The disgraced R&B superstar was found guilty of racketeering and trafficking at a sex abuse trial in New York last year. Several accusers testified during the trial, alleging that Kelly subjected his

Donald Trump and two of his children, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr have agreed to testify in a New York state civil investigation into the former US president’s business practices. State Attorney General Letitia James is investigating whether the Trump Organization misled lenders and tax authorities. The deal came more than six months after

A fourth-grade survivor of last month’s Uvalde school shooting has told a hearing how she dabbed blood on herself and pretended to be dead after the gunman murdered her teacher and friends. Miah Cerrillo and the parents of multiple young Americans killed and wounded in recent mass shootings has testified at the US House Oversight

US actor Matthew McConaughey has delivered a moving and powerful address at the White House on the need for “responsible” gun legislation. His emotional appearance followed the shooting in Uvalde, Texas, last month, of 19 students and two teachers at the Robb Elementary school – one of America’s worst school shootings. Gun owner McConaughey, who

There have been gun killings in 43 of the 50 US states in the two weeks since the Texas school shooting. More than 650 incidents have resulted in 730 deaths since 24 May, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive. Twenty-three of those who died were children, more than the total number who died

The former head of the Proud Boys group has been charged with seditious conspiracy – scheming to overthrow the government – following the attack on the US Capitol. If convicted he could face a fine, up to 20 years in prison, or both. Federal prosecutors say the riots at the building, the seat of US

Elon Musk is threatening to pull out of his deal to acquire Twitter alleging that the company has failed to disclosure the number of “spam and fake accounts” on the platform. The billionaire, who claims to be spending less than 5% of his time on the $44bn takeover, has made a number of comments in