IS “Beatle” El Shafee Elsheikh has been found guilty of hostage-taking and conspiring to murder journalists and aid workers in Syria. The 33-year-old former British national was found to be part of an Islamic State terrorist cell that operated in Iraq and Syria, and whose members were nicknamed “The Beatles” because of their UK accents.
US
Police have released details of a “person of interest” they are searching for following a shooting on a rush-hour subway train in New York. Frank R James is 62 with addresses in Philadelphia and Wisconsin, officers said late on Tuesday. At least 10 people were injured after a gunman in a construction vest donned a
Five people have been shot at a New York City subway station in Brooklyn, law enforcement sources said. Fire personnel responding to reports of smoke at the 36th Street station in the Sunset Park found multiple people shot and undetonated devices. A photo from the scene showed people tending to bloodied passengers lying on the
Pop star Britney Spears has revealed she is pregnant with her third child – months after winning her conservatorship legal battle. The singer shared the news in a post on Instagram saying she had got the test after partner Sam Asghari teased her about being “food pregnant”. “So I got a pregnancy test … and
Elon Musk has decided not to join the Twitter board, despite becoming the company’s single biggest shareholder. The social media giant’s CEO, Parag Agrawal, said the Tesla and SpaceX founder relayed his decision on the very morning he had been due to be officially appointed. “Elon is our biggest shareholder and we will remain open
US citizens are now able to select a gender-neutral “X” on their passport. Some 1.2 million and four million people in the US are estimated to be nonbinary and intersex respectively, according to the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law and interACT, an intersex advocacy group. Many cannot get official identification that reflects
A murder charge against a Texas woman over a “self-induced abortion” will be dropped, according to local officials. Lizelle Herrera, 26, was arrested on Friday for “intentionally and knowingly caused the death of an individual by self-induced abortion”, according to the local sheriff’s office. Gocha Allen Ramirez, the district attorney in Starr County, told Sky
A woman in Texas has been charged with murder over what law enforcement described as a “self-induced abortion”. Lizelle Herrera, 26, was arrested by the sheriff’s office in Starr County near the US-Mexico border in the southern tip of the state, according to Associated Press. The arrest has been met by several protests as Texas
Jennifer Lopez has announced she will tie the knot with Ben Affleck, 18 years after the couple called off their wedding. The singer and actress, 52, revealed she was engaged for a second time to Hollywood star Affleck in her online newsletter, OnTheJLo. She teased how she had a “major announcement” in a post to
It’s a dramatic sight. At the heart of a bustling conference hall, steam billows from a replica volcano emblazoned with Bitcoin 2022’s logo. For attendees, it’s a symbol of the cryptocurrency’s future ambitions – and shows how far Bitcoin has come since it launched in 2009. Image: A 3,000lb statue of a bull was unveiled
A man accused of shooting and seriously wounding Lady Gaga’s dog walker and stealing her two French bulldogs has been freed from jail by mistake. James Howard Jackson was being held on an attempted murder charge but was released from a jail in Los Angeles “due to a clerical error”, a sheriff’s department said. The
Alabama’s governor has signed into law new rules that could see doctors face jail if they continue to prescribe hormone treatment and puberty-blocking medication to transgender youths. LGBTQ advocates have described it as a combination “bathroom bill” and “Don’t Say Gay” bill, echoing similarly controversial legislation recently passed in other US states. The Alabama bills
Kevin Spacey has said sexual abuse allegations made against him by Star Trek actor Anthony Rapp are “absolutely false”, as his lawyers asked a US judge to drop the case. The former House Of Cards star has been in Hollywood exile since the claims were made in October 2017, when Rapp said he was a
An American Airlines passenger who allegedly shoved a flight attendant, spat at crew members, and tried to open the cabin door mid-flight has been hit with an $81,950 (£62,950) fine – the largest ever issued by US aviation regulators. A second fine of $77,272 (£59,360) was issued to a Delta Air Lines passenger who bit a
SpaceX launched three businessmen into orbit on Friday in the first wholly private mission to the International Space Station. Accompanied by their astronaut escort, the men will spend more than a week in space as NASA joins Russia in hosting guests at the world’s most expensive tourist destination. Friday’s launch marks SpaceX’s first private charter
Will Smith will not be allowed to attend any Academy events for 10 years after slapping comedian Chris Rock on stage at the ceremony. The board of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which organises the Oscars, announced the decision after meeting to discuss possible sanctions following the star’s outburst at the event.