PA Media Actor Kevin Spacey has been cleared of all charges in his sexual assault trial in London. The jury returned not guilty verdicts for nine sexual offence charges relating to four men between 2001 and 2013. The 64-year-old Oscar winner had denied the allegations and previously called the case against him “weak”. Mr Spacey…

Kevin Spacey stood in the dock of court 1 to hear the verdicts read out – decisions from the jury that would have such an enormous impact on his life. Earlier he’d been smiling and chatting to the security guards but this was a much more serious moment. With a pensive face he heard the…

Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is surprisingly authentic, but, explains Dorian Lynskey, there are two key scenes where the film deviates from reality. We are accustomed to hearing historians protest that biopics mangle the truth. And we are used to hearing screenwriters such as Aaron Sorkin and Peter Morgan respond that it is legitimate to scramble chronology,…

Dutch Coastguard By Anna Holligan BBC News, The Hague A fire on a cargo ship carrying almost 3,000 cars off the coast of the Dutch island of Ameland has left one sailor dead and 22 others hurt. A major salvage operation is in full swing in an area of the North Sea designated a World…

Getty Images By Sam Cabral BBC News Seawater along the tip of Florida has exceeded hot tub temperatures of 37.8C (100F) in recent days, making it potentially the hottest ever measured. A buoy in Manatee Bay registered triple-digit readings on Sunday and Monday, while buoys in two other places also nearly reached that mark. The…

Getty Images Nigerian Nobel-Prize winning writer Wole Soyinka has defended Afrobeats star Davido over a controversial music video which offended some Muslims. Davido shared a video by another singer signed to his label, which reportedly showed men dancing outside a mosque. This caused outrage in some Muslim circles, with people tearing down Davido posters, local…

AFP By Usman Minjibir & Cecilia Macaulay BBC News, Abuja & London Presidential guards in Niger have seized President Mohamed Bazoum and blockaded his residence, as well as key ministries, sources say. The African Union, the UN, the EU and the United States have all condemned their actions. President Bazoum is a key western ally…

Reuters By Robert Greenall BBC News A man charged in the drug-related death of Wire actor Michael K Williams has been jailed for two-and-a-half years. Prosecutors sought a four-year term for Carlos Macci but the actor’s nephew and show’s co-creator asked for leniency. Macci, 72, one of four men charged with selling Williams heroin laced…

NatWest boss Dame Alison Rose has resigned, hours after admitting she had made a mistake in speaking about Nigel Farage’s relationship with the bank. She had been heavily criticised for being the source of an inaccurate BBC report about Mr Farage’s account at Coutts, which is part of NatWest Group. The BBC’s analysis editor Ros…

Getty Images By Hannah Ritchie BBC News, Sydney Colonisation was “the luckiest thing that happened” to Australia, the nation’s second-longest serving Prime Minister John Howard has said. His remarks were made in relation to a historic referendum due to take place this year on Indigenous recognition. If successful, the vote will change Australia’s constitution to…