Senator Tim Scott, the only Black Republican member of the upper chamber, has officially declared himself a candidate for president in next year’s Republican primary election. According to a statement of candidacy filed on Friday with the Federal Election Commission, Mr Scott has designated his official campaign committee as “Tim Scott for America”, with a campaign address in the Palmetto State’s capital, Charleston. Mr Scott, who has served as South Carolina’s junior senator since 2013, was first appointed to his Senate seat by one of his presidential primary opponents, then-South Carolina governor Nikki Haley. He filled a vacancy left by the resignation of Jim DeMint, who left the Senate to lead the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. At the time of his appointment, Mr Scott was the first Black senator to represent a state that had been part of the Confederacy during the American Civil War and the first Black Republican since Massachusetts senator Edward Brooke left the body in 1979. The then-freshman GOP senator retained the seat he’d been appointed to in a 2014 special election and was reelected easily in 2016 and 2022 with at least 60 per cent of the vote in both elections. He has long been considered a rising star in the Republican Party, and was given the honour of delivering the party’s response to president Joe Biden’s inaugural address to Congress in 2021. Mr Scott, whose campaign website has teased a “special announcement” on 22 May, joins a GOP primary field that includes Ms Haley, former president Donald Trump, ex-Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy. Florida governor Ron DeSantis and ex-New Jersey governor Chris Christie are also expected to officially enter the GOP presidential field in the coming days. Mr Trump, who has retained his preeminent position in the GOP despite being impeached twice by the House of Representatives, losing the 2020 election, inciting a deadly attack on the US Capitol in an effort to remain in power, facing criminal charges in his former home state of New York and his status as a potential defendant in at least two more criminal probes, currently holds a commanding advantage in most polls. Read More Parents of transgender kids seek to block DeSantis ban on gender-affirming care for minors How one North Carolina lawmaker's defection from the Democratic Party upended abortion protections Missouri governor to announce his pick as new St. Louis prosecutor after Kim Gardner resignation

Clashes resumed at the largest refugee camp in Lebanon between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah group and Islamic groups, killing three people and wounding 10 others Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, discussed with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas the volatile situation in an attempt to end the fighting

The UK welcomes their release after they were held for allegedly breaking the country's laws.

WASHINGTON U.S. Special Counsel David Weiss, who is leading the probe into President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden,

The convicted murderer who escaped a Pennsylvania prison late last month is once again behind bars, now facing additional charges, after a nearly two-week manhunt that captured national attention and put the surrounding community on edge.

Dunne gave 'Baby Gronk' a big hug, exclaiming that he was 'so cute!'

Donald Trump was dealt a blow in E. Jean Carroll’s remaining lawsuit against him after the US Justice

Stevie Nicks wrote a long post about Lahaina and bemoaned her niece's lost vacation, which she said 'made the situation worse'

COPENHAGEN Denmark, the Netherlands and the United States will spearhead a new international coalition to help Ukraine establish

Rookie Casey Schmitt had four more hits, including a two-run homer, and Alex Cobb blanked Arizona into the eighth inning as the San Francisco Giants beat the Diamondbacks 6-2

Donald Trump is doubling down on debunked claims about the 2020 election as he fights criminal charges that he sought to overturn the will of the voters and seeks a second term

Former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has asked a federal court to order all charges against him brought by Fulton County, Georgia, prosecutors to be dismissed.