US

Elon Musk has claimed his community notes system on X – formerly Twitter – has been “gamed by state actors” after one of his own posts was fact-checked. The billionaire has promoted the community-based fact-checking system as his flagship policy to tackle disinformation on the social media platform since his $44bn (£38bn) takeover in October

Donald Trump has said he will no longer give evidence at his New York civil fraud trial. The former US president had been expected to return to the witness stand on Monday. He was due to be the last big defence witness in the case, which threatens his real estate empire. Posting on social media,

The Texas Supreme Court has temporarily blocked a woman from obtaining an emergency abortion. Kate Cox, 31, sought court authorisation for the abortion because her foetus was diagnosed with a genetic abnormality that usually results in miscarriage, stillbirth or death soon after birth. The legal battle is a major test case since the US Supreme

A group of students saved a woman and her toddler son after they became trapped under a car – with the dramatic rescue caught on video. The woman, her three-year-old daughter and son aged two had been hit by the vehicle in the car park of Layton Christian Academy in Utah. While the daughter managed

Hunter Biden has been criminally charged for tax-related offences in California, as a federal investigation into his financial conduct intensifies.  The president’s son has been indicted on nine counts – three felonies and six misdemeanours – by special counsel David Weiss who is investigating his business dealings for the Department of Justice. According to the

A Texas woman who is 20-weeks pregnant and whose foetus has been diagnosed with a fatal condition has asked a court to allow her to have an abortion. Texas is one of 13 states that bans abortion at nearly all stages of pregnancy. Kate Cox recently learned her unborn child is at a high risk

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has been named the world’s most powerful woman for the second year in a row. The German politician, who has held the post since 2019, finished ahead of European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, US Vice President Kamala Harris, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who came fourth.

A house exploded as police were investigating reports of gunshots being fired from the property by a man. Footage of the blast in the US showed a huge fireball shoot up into the air as the entire home went up in flames and collapsed, spraying debris all around. Witnesses said the explosion shook nearby buildings

Elon Musk has apologised for endorsing an antisemitic conspiracy theory, admitting it may have been “literally the worst and dumbest post I’ve ever done”. The apology came amid a fiery rant against advertisers who have stopped promoting on his social media platform X. The advertising row, which has seen Disney and Warner Bros pull their

Elon Musk has been accused of promoting a long-debunked conspiracy theory which alleged high-profile Democrats ran a paedophile abuse ring from a Washington pizza restaurant. The billionaire posted and later deleted a meme referencing “Pizzagate” on X on Tuesday, NBC News reports. It was an image from TV show The Office, with fake dialogue superimposed

Joe Biden has called for the truce between Hamas and Israel in Gaza to be extended after more hostages were released on Sunday. The latest captives to be freed include four-year-old dual Israeli-American national Abigail Edan, whose parents were reportedly killed in the 7 October attacks. The US president said her father was “gunned down

Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) has sued the watchdog group Media Matters alleging it manufactured a report to show advertisers’ posts alongside neo-Nazi and white nationalist content. Major US companies including Disney, Warner Bros and Sky News’ parent company Comcast pulled advertising from X over concerns about their ads showing up next to hate speech

Major US companies including Disney, Warner Bros and NBC parent company Comcast have pulled advertising from X (formerly Twitter) amid a row over Elon Musk’s alleged endorsement of an antisemitic conspiracy theory. The Tesla chief on Wednesday agreed with a post on X that falsely claimed Jewish people were stoking hatred against white people, saying the

Chinese president Xi Jinping has signalled that China will be sending new pandas to the United States. Mr Xi made the offer on a visit to California where he was taking part in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperative (APEC) conference. Although he did not share much detail about the pandas, it was suggested that the next

Direct lines of communication between American and Chinese military forces are to be reopened for the first time in more than a year, Joe Biden has announced. Speaking after a meeting with China’s premier Xi Jinping in California, the US president said the restoration of military-to-military communications would help to prevent accidents which could spiral

Matt LeBlanc has paid tribute to his Friends co-star Matthew Perry, saying it was an “honour to share the stage with you and to call you my friend”. In a post on Instagram, LeBlanc wrote: “It is with a heavy heart I say goodbye. The times we had together are honestly among the favourite times

It has been a year since President Xi and President Biden last met, and it’s hard to overstate just what a rollercoaster US-China relations have been on since then. The fact this meeting is happening at all is the result of months of delicate planning. But for all the “tough-line”, “hard-man” images that both men

Surgeons have performed the world’s first ever whole-eye transplant, a feat hailed as a breakthrough despite the patient not yet regaining his sight. Doctors “never expected it to work at all”, patient Aaron James said, but the eye has shown signs of health, such as functioning blood vessels and a promising retina. It has been

Smartphones may be able to detect how drunk a person is based on changes in their voice, according to a new study. Researchers used sensors in smartphones to record a person’s voice before and after drinking. They then put the recordings through a digital program to isolate and measure certain aspects, like frequency and pitch.

A former CIA officer accused of drugging and sexually assaulting at least two dozen women during various overseas postings has pleaded guilty to federal sex abuse charges. Brian Jeffrey Raymond kept nearly 500 videos and photographs he took of naked, unconscious women, including many in which he can be seen opening their eyelids, groping or