US

California has introduced a new bill that restricts the use of rap lyrics as evidence in court. It follows the recent indictments of US rappers Young Thug and Gunna, whose lyrics have been directly quoted at them in an ongoing legal trial. Young Thug has been accused of co-founding a gang as well as possessing

Eyewitness: ‘This is like an A-bomb hit the place’ The barrier islands off the coast of southwest Florida bore the brunt of Hurricane Ian’s fury. Sanibel Island used to be a picture-perfect holiday spot with its wide, white sand beaches and clear waters. The rich and famous have houses on the waterfront, alongside families who

Hurricane Ian is gaining strength and veering towards the Carolinas – with uncertainty over how many fatalities the storm has caused in Florida. This is one of the strongest-ever storms to hit the US – and emergency crews are trying to reach stranded Floridians after Ian cut a path of destruction across the state. Early

It is the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico that bring people to Fort Myers Beach - but on Wednesday afternoon, they unleashed the fury of Hurricane Ian. A tsunami-like storm surge, 3m (10ft) high in places, washed away homes and businesses. The seafront has been levelled – now littered with the remnants of the shops

Chloë Grace Moretz has hit out at a Family Guy meme showing her walking into a hotel carrying a pizza box, and blames it for her body dysmorphia which she says led to her becoming “a recluse”. The 25-year-old actress, who has been famous for over half her life, says she has struggled to get

One of the most powerful storms in US history has barrelled into Florida’s southwest coast with sustained winds of up to 150mph (241kph) and torrential rain. Hurricane Ian made landfall near Cayo Costa as an “extremely dangerous” category four storm but was close to being the maximum level of five (when there are winds of

Hurricane Ian has knocked out power across all of Cuba, leaving 11 million people without electricity, after it slammed into the island’s western tip. Cuba‘s Electric Union said power was initially knocked out for about one million people in the country’s western provinces, but later the entire grid collapsed. The hurricane made landfall as a

Residents and holidaymakers in Florida have been warned not to be complacent, as storm-in-a-century Hurricane Ian’s 140mph winds are expected to affect the whole state. After making landfall in Cuba as a powerful Category 3 storm, it is now feared it will be upgraded to Category 4 as it intensifies while crossing the Gulf’s warm

A combined Chinese and Russian naval convoy, including a guided missile cruiser and a destroyer have been spotted close to an Alaskan island by the US Coastguard. Two other Chinese naval ships and three Russian naval vessels were sighted in the Bering Sea in a single formation 86 miles (138 km) from Kiska Island by

Tropical storm Ian has strengthened into a hurricane set to unleash significant winds, flash floods and mudslides in Florida, Cuba and Jamaica, weather experts have warned. The weather system is about 90 miles (150km) southwest of the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean Sea, according to the latest advisory issued by the National Hurricane Centre (NHC)

The Royal Navy’s flagship HMS Queen Elizabeth has arrived in New York for its deployment to the United States to host an Anglo-American military conference. The ship dropped anchor within sight of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbour yesterday. It set sail for the US from Portsmouth on 7 September in place of

Rihanna will perform at the next Super Bowl halftime show, the NFL has announced. The 34-year-old singer shared a photo of her hand holding an American football on Instagram and Twitter. Soon afterwards it was reposted by her record label, Roc Nation, the NFL and Apple Music, which confirmed the news in a tweet. Apple

A state of emergency has been declared in Florida as Tropical Storm Ian heads towards the US coast and is forecast to become a major hurricane. Governor Ron DeSantis expanded a previous warning on Saturday to cover the whole state and urged people to prepare for landfall. It activates the state’s national guard and frees

Abortions have effectively been banned in Arizona after a judge lifted an injunction that had blocked prosecutions for nearly 50 years. Women will have to leave the state to get the procedure done and some clinics will have to shut down. Anyone who performs abortions could now face criminal charges and the only exception is

Officials in Alabama have halted the lethal injection execution of a prisoner on death row because they couldn’t find a vein before the midnight deadline. Alabama corrections commissioner John Hamm said the decision to call off the scheduled execution of Alan Miller was made after it became clear they could not get the process under

A Florida highway was forced to temporarily close after a multi-vehicle crash caused thousands of cans of beer to cover the road. The semi-trailer had been carrying cases of Coors Light when it crashed and spilled its load all over the busy road. All lanes of Interstate 75, which is around 30 miles north of

A NASA-built spacecraft will deliberately crash into an asteroid as part of a test mission later this month. The spacecraft, known as Double Asteroid Redirection Test (Dart), is expected to collide with a 170-metre wide (560ft) asteroid named Dimorphos at 12.14am UK time on 27 September. Dimorphos is no threat to Earth but it has

The US central bank has imposed its third major interest rate rise in a row. The Federal Reserve has once again hiked rates by 0.75 percentage points in an effort to curb soaring inflation. The widely-expected rise will mean more expensive borrowing for the likes of mortgage holders and those paying credit card debt. American

Donald Trump and three of his children have been served with a lawsuit alleging “years of bank, tax and insurance fraud”. New York attorney general Letitia James is suing the former US president, his family, and the Trump Organisation. If successful, it could halt Mr Trump’s ability to do business in the state for years

The US president says Russia has “shamelessly violated the core tenets” of the United Nations charter with its “brutal, needless war” in Ukraine. Delivering a forceful condemnation of Russia’s invasion to the international body, Joe Biden said reports of abuses against civilians in Ukraine “should make your blood run cold”. He also said President Vladimir