Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

John Hall

@johnmatthewhall

John Hall is Senior Online Reporter at The Independent. He also writes a column on new music for the newspaper.

The US is still the most influential country in the world according to the poll, thanks to the cultural and political weight it carries

The 10 most influential countries in the world have been revealed

The Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences created more than a dozen monkeys with varying degrees of autism (file image)

Chinese scientists create autistic monkeys hoping to find a cure

Describing the snowy structure as a 'Boutique winter igloo for two', Brooklyn resident Patrick M. Horton told would-be guests it would cost them $200 (£140) for a single night’s stay

Enterprising New Yorker builds igloo and lists it on Airbnb

Rafts and boats continue to make the journey from Turkey to Lesbos each day as thousands flee conflict in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and other countries

Rescuers forced to watch 31 refugees drown in the Aegean Sea