US

Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex-trafficking trial was billed as the moment, after years of waiting, when we would get answers. In reality, the woman at the centre of the case revealed almost nothing, and the courtroom drama, scheduled to last six weeks, was over in three. Maxwell did not take the stand, and her defence offered little

A past settlement between sex offender Jeffey Epstein and Virginia Giuffre, which could be key to a legal case involving Prince Andrew, is set to be made public next week. The 2009 agreement between Epstein and Ms Giuffre, formerly Virginia Roberts, will be released on or around 3 January following an order by US judges.

The judge in Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking trial wants jurors to work more days and longer hours because of a spike in the number of coronavirus cases in New York. Judge Alison Nathan said a positive COVID-19 case among jurors would endanger “our ability to complete this trial” and asked them to work every day

Ghislaine Maxwell has been found guilty of recruiting underage girls to be sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein. The 60-year-old former socialite and ex-girlfriend of billionaire financier Epstein is now facing the prospect of years in prison. As the verdicts were read out in court in New York, Maxwell appeared to show little reaction behind a

The mother of Valentina Orellana-Peralta, a 14-year-old girl who was fatally shot by police in Los Angeles, has said seeing her daughter “die in her arms” was one of the “most profound pains any human being can imagine”. Speaking at a news conference via a translator, Soledad Peralta said she begged officers to help her

The Los Angeles Police Department has released the bodycam footage from an incident that led to an innocent teenager being fatally shot as officers opened fire on a suspect. Valentina Orellana-Peralta, 14, was in the changing room at the Burlington Coat Factory in North Hollywood on 23 December, when a bullet struck her through a

Sarah Weddington, who won a landmark court case to make abortions legal across the US, has died at the age of 76. The Texas lawyer passed away in her sleep early on Boxing Day morning at her home in Austin, her former student and colleague Susan Hays said. She had been in poor health for

Around 8,000 flights were cancelled globally between Christmas Eve and Boxing Day as airlines experienced staff shortages due to COVID-19. Approximately 3,000 of the cancelled flights were in or out of the United States, where the highly transmissible Omicron COVID variant is causing a surge in infections, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware.com The website’s tally

Hundreds of flights have been called off for a third day in a row in the US as the Omicron variant of COVID continues to spread. More than 720 commercial flights going into or out of the US were cancelled on Sunday, according to a tally on flight-tracking website FlightAware.com. This meant thousands of people

A surfer has been killed in an “apparent shark attack” off the central coast of California on Christmas Eve, authorities have said. The surfer, whose identity has not yet been released, was found in the water near Morro Rock, about 200 miles (320km) north of Los Angeles. in Los Angeles, California, at around 10.45am on

A White House Christmas event took an awkward turn on Friday when a caller dropped a vulgar anti-Biden slogan into a conversation with the US president.  Joe Biden was hosting a traditional festive phone call with children tracking Father Christmas’ sleigh when their father told the president “Let’s go Brandon”. Mr Biden, apparently unaware of

Alec Baldwin has shared a Christmas message thanking his supporters for their well wishes but says Halyna Hutchins’s death is “never going to be behind us”. The 63-year old actor said he feels “lucky” to be at home with his family this Christmas and spoke of a “really tough” period following the fatal shooting incident

A 14-year-old girl has been shot and killed in a Los Angeles clothing shop’s dressing room after police opened fire on an assault suspect. Police also shot and killed the suspect at the Burlington shop in the North Hollywood area of San Fernando Valley, police said. A man had been acting erratically and threatening to

A former US police officer who said she mistakenly fired her gun instead of her Taser in the fatal shooting of a man has been found guilty of manslaughter. Kimberly Potter was convicted over the death of 20-year-old motorist Daunte Wright during a traffic stop in April in Minneapolis. Potter, 49, was found guilty of

Ghislaine Maxwell will spend her 60th birthday in prison after the jury deliberating her fate was sent home for Christmas. The former girlfriend of disgraced billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein turns 60 this Saturday, 25 December, with the jury not expected to return until next Monday. Jurors ended their second full day of deliberations into the

A former US senator and his wife have been taken to hospital after their $5.5m mansion was destroyed in a fire. Charles ‘Chuck’ Robb, 82, and Lynda Robb, 77, were injured when the blaze engulfed the luxury property in northern Virginia. Dramatic pictures showed firefighters battling to extinguish the inferno as it ripped through the