US President Joe Biden’s administration has finalised a set of new regulations targeting untraceable “ghost guns”. The new rules come as Mr Biden faces increasing political pressure to act against a rise in gun violence. The rule bans businesses from selling kits that can be used to create a gun at home without serial numbers.

In remarks at the White House on Monday, Mr Biden also nominated a new director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The new regulations – which are nearly a year in the making – are expected to face stiff legal resistance from lobbying groups that oppose new gun control regulations. At the White House, Mr Biden showed the components of a 9mm semi-automatic pistol that he said had been made using a simple kit purchased online. Ghost guns can be self-assembled and sometimes 3D printed, which means they do not contain a serial number and cannot be traced. Background checks have not previously been required to purchase the assembly kits.(BBC)…[+]

Britney Spears has announced she is pregnant, months after she escaped the legal arrangement that gave her father control over many aspects of her life. The singer told her 40 million Instagram followers she was having a baby with partner Sam Asghari. The 40-year-old, who has two teenage sons, also revealed she suffered depression during a previous pregnancy. In June last year, she told a judge her conservatorship prevented her from marrying or removing her birth control. She has previously said she wanted a family with Asghari, a 28-year-old personal trainer. But the form of legal guardianship known as a conservatorship, set up by her father in 2008 after she experienced a public mental health crisis, meant she could not make her own decisions about her medical care.

The US and Britain say they are looking into reports that chemical weapons have been used by Russian forces attacking the Ukrainian port of Mariupol. Ukraine’s Azov regiment said three soldiers were injured by “a poisonous substance” in an attack on Monday. However, no evidence has been presented to confirm the use of chemical weapons.  UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said officials were working to “urgently” investigate what she called “a callous escalation” of the war. The Pentagon called the potential use of the weapons “deeply concerning”. Western nations have warned that the use of chemical weapons would mark a dangerous escalation of the conflict and have pledged to take firm action if Russia carries out such attacks. Ukraine’s Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said the government was investigating the allegations, adding that early assumptions suggested phosphorous ammunition had been used.(BBC)…[+]