Mitt Romney faces an important test in Illinois tonight, with the former Massachusetts governor pinning his hopes on a win in the latest round of the Republicans' presidential nominating contest.

Johnny Depp plays a hedonistic journalist in Bruce Robinson's adaptation of Hunter S Thompson's debut novel.

Hurricane Irene cut power to more than a million people in Puerto Rico, downing trees and flooding streets today, and forecasters warned it could be a major storm as it threatens Florida and South Carolina by the end of the week.

US President Barack Obama paying for lunch at Kasalta bakery during a visit to San Juan, capital of Puerto Rico, yesterday.

The deal

Japanese car maker Mazda said today it was recalling more than 50,000 cars in the US and 15,000 in Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico, after discovering spiders' webs in the vents.

They call him THE GOATSUCKER. Or rather they did. Because the chupacabra – a fearsome monster first spotted in 1995, who according to the Fortean Times, is the third most famous mythical beast after Bigfoot and Nessie (which sounds like an R&B producer duo about to open shop with Tinie Tempah) – has recently been revealed as a hoax by the other, smarter FT.

In winning a record 10th world title, 18 years after his first, Kelly Slater has helped his sport cope with his great rival's death. He tells Ben Mondy about the mix of emotions.

Desperate to drift away this winter? Hannah Capella counts up the opportunities

Puerto Rico has everything you'd expect from a Caribbean holiday, plus a luminescent bay, salsa dancing ... and ants that taste of peppery sprouts

Hurricane Earl, now a powerful Category 4 storm, barreled toward the US coast early today after battering tiny islands across the northeastern Caribbean with heavy rain and winds that damaged homes and toppled power lines.

The pool is alive with the sound of music

When an exotically beautiful, elegantly dressed woman stood up in the public gallery of the US House of Representatives on Washington's Capitol Hill on 1 March 1954, no one batted an eyelid. When three men stood up alongside her and all four started shooting from 9mm semi-automatic Luger pistols, all hell broke loose. After 30 bullets were fired and five congressmen or their aides fell wounded on the House floor, the woman, Lolita Lebrón, unfurled and waved a Puerto Rican flag and shouted "Viva Puerto Rico Libre!" (Long Live Free Puerto Rico).