US

Former US vice president Mike Pence has dismissed claims made by Donald Trump that he could have overturned the result of the 2020 election. In a strong rebuttal on Friday night, Mr Pence said it was “wrong” for Mr Trump to suggest that he could have prevented Joe Biden from being elected to the White

A lawyer who rose to fame for taking on Donald Trump while he was in office has been found guilty of defrauding a porn star who claimed she had sexual encounters with the former president. Michael Avenatti is now facing up to 22 years behind bars after being convicted of cheating Stormy Daniels out of

Journalists at Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp have had data stolen after the company was hacked. Investigators believe it was linked to China and affected a limited number of individuals working for outlets including News UK – publisher of The Times and The Sun – and the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post. The

The US employment market started the year in a much healthier state than expected, despite Omicron disruption hitting consumer-facing businesses. America added 467,000 jobs in January – about three times the 150,000 level expected by economists – according to the US bureau of labour statistics. The dollar rose and Wall Street stocks were subdued as

US special forces have killed the leader of Islamic State during a raid in Syria. Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi was among 13 people who died in a two-hour gun battle at a house in the rebel-held province of Idlib. There were no US military casualties. “I will deliver remarks to the American people later this

The leader of Islamic State has been killed during a raid by US special forces in Syria. Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi died by exploding a bomb that killed himself and members of his family as American forces approached a house in the rebel-held province of Idlib, a US official said. He was among at least

Rihanna has shared a photo of her baby bump after announcing she and rapper boyfriend A$AP Rocky are expecting their first child together. The singer and businesswoman, 33, showed off her growing bump to her 120 million Instagram followers as she stood in a white-tiled bathroom lifting her sports jersey. “How the gang pulled up

President Joe Biden has approved the deployment of thousands more US troops to Poland and Germany in the coming days amid fears Russia will invade Ukraine, an administration official says. Some 2,000 troops will be sent to Poland and Germany, while the US will also reposition part of a 1,000-strong infantry squadron currently in Germany

Native American tribes have reached settlements of $590m (£436m) with a pharmaceutical company and three distribution firms over the toll of opioids. Under the terms of the deal, Johnson & Johnson will pay $150m (£110m) over two years, while AmerisourceBergen, McKesson, and Cardinal will contribute $440m (£325m) over seven years. All federally-recognised tribes in the

US police have offered a $15,000 (£11,000) reward for information that will lead them to find the gunman responsible for a random bullet that struck and killed a British astrophysicist. Dr Matthew Willson, a 31-year-old from Chertsey in Surrey, travelled last month to visit his girlfriend on the outskirts of Atlanta, Georgia. In the early

NASA has published plans for the future of the International Space Station which could see the 444,615kg structure taken out of orbit in January 2031 and crashed into a “spacecraft cemetery”. The laboratory will continue operating until 2030 following a commitment made by President Biden and Vice President Harris last month, but its long-term future

A teenager has asked Elon Musk for $50k (£37k) after the billionaire requested that the youngster delete a Twitter bot which tracks his private jet. Jack Sweeney, 19, turned down an initial offer of $5k to shut down the @ElonJet account, saying the payment wouldn’t replace the satisfaction he received from running it. The SpaceX

A single flash of lightning stretched across the sky over three US states, setting a new world record. The lightning bolt extended 477.2 miles across Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi in April 2020, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said. This beat the old record of 440.6 miles set in 2018. Also in 2020, a single lightning

Whoopi Goldberg has apologised for comments about the Holocaust that were described by others as “devastating” and “dangerous”. The actor co-hosts ABC talk show The View and was part of a discussion about a US school board’s decision to ban Maus, a Pulitzer prize-winning graphic novel about the experiences of a Holocaust survivor. Goldberg, 66,

A US judge has asked for Prince Andrew’s former assistant, Robert Olney, to give evidence as part of the civil sex assault case brought by the duke’s accuser Virginia Giuffre. Court documents reveal Judge Lewis A Kaplan has written to both the Senior Master of the Queen’s Bench Division and the Australian attorney general to

Wordle, an online word game which has seen a surge in popularity recently, has been bought by The New York Times. The deal, which saw the media company take over running the game from creator Josh Wardle, was for “an undisclosed price in the low seven figures”. Wordle sees players try and guess a five

People along the East Coast of the US are preparing for a powerful storm that could dump 2ft or more of snow on some of the nation’s biggest cities. The Nor’easter is forecast to impact New England and the Middle Atlantic region this weekend, bringing potential coastal flooding, power outages and travel disruption. Airlines have

A two-lane bridge has collapsed in Pittsburgh just hours before US President Joe Biden was expected to visit to discuss his infrastructure bill. Rescuers had to rappel nearly 150ft (46 metres) while others formed a human chain to help rescue people from a dangling bus. There were minor injuries but no fatalities reported, although drones

The US has called for the United Nations (UN) Security Council to hold a public meeting to discuss Russia’s “threatening behaviour” against Ukraine. On Thursday, the US ambassador to the UN asked the security council to meet publicly on Monday. Russia has manoeuvred around 100,000 troops near the border with Ukraine, though Moscow has denied

The US grew at its strongest pace since 1984 last year as it bounced back from 2020’s pandemic-driven downturn, official figures show. GDP in the world’s biggest economy expanded by 5.7% in 2021 after shrinking by 3.4% the year before, according to America’s bureau of economic analysis. It has not enjoyed such strong one-year growth