US

A 73-year-old woman who took part in two killings on the orders of cult leader Charles Manson in 1969 should be released from prison on parole, a Californian appeals court has ruled. Leslie Van Houten is serving a life sentence for helping Manson and other followers kill Leno LaBianca, a grocer in Los Angeles, and

The US has said a Chinese fighter pilot performed an “unnecessarily aggressive” manoeuvre during an intercept over the South China Sea. In a statement, the US military command responsible for the Indo-Pacific said the Chinese J-16 aircraft carried out the manoeuvre last week and forced the US RC-135 plane to fly through its wake turbulence.

Efforts to prevent the United States reaching its debt limit and to avert a potentially catastrophic default on loan repayments on Wednesday move to the Senate, where the vote on the proposal to raise the debt ceiling takes place. President Joe Biden and leader of the House of Representatives, speaker Kevin McCarthy, had spent the

Nine people have been injured in a shooting near a Hollywood Beach, Florida. One person has been arrested and police have said they are looking for one more suspect. Early reports said there was an altercation between two groups. Police said there would be a heavy presence of officers as the investigation continues. Advertisement

A mother has pleaded guilty to murder and child abuse over the death of her six-year-old son in Arizona. Elizabeth Archibeque, 26, reached a plea deal with prosecutors this month and could face life in prison under the first-degree murder charge. Her son, Deshaun Martinez, had been locked inside a small bedroom closet without food

Three people have been killed and at least five injured in a shooting at a popular motorcycle rally in a New Mexico resort town. The shooting at around 5pm local time on Saturday involved members of motorcycle gangs attending the 41st annual Red River Memorial Motorcycle rally. It happened between two shops on Red River’s

President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy have reached an “agreement in principle” on raising the US debt ceiling, according to sources in Washington. The tentative deal would bring to an end the months-long stalemate between the Republican controlled Congress and Democrat run White House. Currently, the debt ceiling stands at $31.4 trillion (£25.4

A Dallas school district has apologised after distributing a Winnie The Pooh-themed book about school shootings. The book is titled Stay Safe: Run, Hide, Fight and its cover says: “If there is danger, let Winnie the Pooh and his crew show you what to do.” Inside, it includes passages such as: “If danger is near,

A 22-year-old woman has had her leg bitten off by a shark while snorkelling in the Caribbean. The woman, who is from Connecticut in the US but has not been named, was taken to hospital in a serious condition on the Turks and Caicos Islands, police said. She and her friend were snorkelling outside the

A member of the Oath Keepers extremist group was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison for participating in the riot at the US Capitol on 6 January 2021. Jessica Watkins was convicted in November by a federal jury in Washington DC of obstruction of an official proceeding after storming the Capitol, which

An 11-year-old boy who was shot by a police officer has returned home from hospital after almost a week of treatment. Aderrien Murry spent five days in hospital with a collapsed lung, lacerated liver, and fractured ribs after the officer shot him in the chest early on Saturday, lawyer Carlos Moore said. Aderrien was well

Brian Laundrie’s mother offered him “a shovel and garbage bags” if he needed to dispose of a body, according to a “burn after reading” letter, court documents show. The parents of Laundrie’s fiancee Gabby Petito have been given the letter after a Florida judge denied a request from his parents to withhold it. The Petitos

Donald Trump has responded to Ron DeSantis’s ill-fated presidential campaign launch with fake videos of a rocket crashing and a Twitter Space parody with Hitler, the devil and the FBI. Mr Trump, 76, mocked his Republican rival’s glitch-ridden online chat with Twitter founder Elon Musk by posting a series of doctored clips on his Truth

Tina Turner – one of rock’s great vocalists and most charismatic performers – has died aged 83, her spokesperson has confirmed. In a statement, they said: “Tina Turner, the ‘Queen of Rock’n Roll’ has died peacefully today at the age of 83 after a long illness in her home in Kusnacht near Zurich, Switzerland. “With

Ron DeSantis has entered the race to be the next US president, going head to head with Donald Trump. He filed a declaration of candidacy with the US federal electoral commission on Wednesday. The 44-year-old becomes the latest in a crowded Republican contest to decide whether the party will move on from Mr Trump in

A school in Florida has banned the poem read at Joe Biden’s inauguration after a single complaint. The unnamed parent said Amanda Gorman’s poem The Hill We Climb was “not educational” and contained “indirectly (sic) hate messages”, adding that it could “cause confusion and indoctrinate students”. Gorman, 25, said on Instagram that she was “gutted”

A “kind and amazing” father-of-two has been struck and killed by a car after he got out of his own vehicle to help a family of ducks cross a busy intersection in California. Casey Rivara, 41, was driving his children home after their swimming practice when they noticed a duck and her ducklings struggling to

A truck driver has been arrested after crashing into security barriers near the White House. A preliminary investigation revealed the driver “may have intentionally struck the security barriers at Lafayette Square” in Washington DC, said Anthony Guglielmia, a spokesperson for the US Secret Service. There were no injuries to any Secret Service or White House

A man accused of stabbing to death four university students in their beds in Idaho last year has refused to enter a plea after appearing in court. Criminology student Bryan Kohberger, 28, appeared at Latah County courtroom on Monday. District Judge John Judge entered a not-guilty plea on his behalf. Last week, a grand jury

SpaceX’s second private flight has launched passengers, including Saudi Arabia’s first female astronaut, to the International Space Station. The SpaceX Falcon rocket launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre on Sunday night. The crew will be led by a retired NASA astronaut who now works for the company, which arranged the 10-day trip. It is the