US

For a woman known around the world, who has been the focus of documentaries, podcasts and endless news coverage, Ghislaine Maxwell still remains an enigma.  She has said very little publicly in the two decades since sexual abuse allegations about her friend Jeffrey Epstein began to surface. We do not know how Maxwell met the

More than $1.5m (£1.1m) has been raised to help an American man who was freed after spending 43 years in jail for a triple murder he did not commit. The Midwest Innocence Project set up the online fundraiser as they fought for Kevin Strickland‘s release, noting that he would not get compensation from the state

The long-awaited trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, who is facing six sex-trafficking charges, is due to start in New York on Monday. The charges involve four alleged underage victims and multiple locations over a 10-year period between 1994 and 2004. The youngest alleged victim was 14 years old at the time. Maxwell also faces two counts

Stephen Sondheim – the composer and lyricist behind some of the world’s best-known musicals – has died aged 91. Just some of his best-known works from a 60-year career include the lyrics for West Side Story and Sweeney Todd. According to The New York Times, Sondheim’s death at his home in Connecticut was sudden –

NASA has delayed the launch of its new James Webb Space Telescope following an “incident” that happened affecting its connection to the rocket. The $10bn (£7.5bn) telescope is an orbiting infrared observatory that will will provide next-generation discoveries based on the work of the Hubble Space Telescope. But its launch from the Guiana Space Centre

Madonna has hit out at Instagram for taking down provocative photographs in which her nipple was exposed. The 63-year-old star had shared a series of risqué pictures of herself on and underneath a bed, wearing a cut-out bra, a thong, fishnet tights and high heels, which made headlines earlier in the week. Resharing the images

Three white men who chased and shot a black man in Georgia last February have been convicted of his murder. Ahmaud Arbery, 25, was pursued and cornered by Travis McMichael, 35, his father Gregory McMichael, 65, and their neighbour William ‘Roddie’ Bryan, 52, on 23 February 2020 in Satilla Shores just outside the city of

Keanu Reeves has finally answered the question about whether or not he is married to Winona Ryder. In 1992, the Matrix actor appeared alongside Ryder in the Francis Ford Coppola epic Dracula, where they shot a wedding scene with a real Romanian priest. Years later, the Stranger Things actress claimed in an interview with Entertainment

A rape conviction at the centre of an award-winning memoir by Alice Sebold has been overturned amid concerns the wrong person was sent to jail in 1982. Anthony Broadwater, who spent 16 years in prison, sobbed as he was cleared by a judge of raping Sebold when she was a student – an assault she

A man has appeared in court charged with multiple homicides after a car plowed into a Christmas parade in the US – as a child became the sixth person to die after the incident. Darrell Brooks, 39, cried and rocked back and forth with his face in his hands as charges were laid against him.

The boyfriend of Gabby Petito, who was being hunted after she was found dead, fatally shot himself in the head, a lawyer has said. Brian Laundrie had been on a cross-country trip in the US with Ms Petito when she disappeared. As police appealed for help in finding her, video emerged of her speaking to

After winning an Oscar earlier this year, Jon Batiste now leads the nominations for the 2022 Grammy Awards – with Justin Bieber, Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, H.E.R and Doja Cat also in the running for several prizes. Batiste’s nominations span several genres, including R&B, jazz, American roots music, classical and music video-film, and he is

A spacecraft has been launched from California this morning carrying with it humanity’s greatest hopes of being able to protect our planet from a cataclysmic asteroid impact. Fortunately the DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) mission is only a test, and if anything goes wrong before it intercepts its target next September, then Earth won’t suffer

Three members of the Milwaukee Dancing Grannies group are among five people dead after a US Christmas parade turned to tragedy. The group had been performing in Waukesha, Wisconsin, on Sunday afternoon when Darrell E Brooks allegedly drove his Ford Escape into the parade. Virginia Sorenson, 79, LeAnna Owen, 71, and Tamara Durand, 52, were

A man police are questioning after five people were killed and more than 40 were injured when a vehicle drove through a Christmas parade in Wisconsin has been named in US media. NBC reported that Darrell Brooks, 39, from Wisconsin, is a person of interest being held in custody. He has not been charged with

More than 20 people have been injured after a vehicle drove through a holiday parade in the US state of Wisconsin, according to police. The incident happened in Waukesha, which is about 20 miles west of central Milwaukee, just before 5pm on Sunday. In footage on social media, the red vehicle appeared to speed towards

A convicted felon who tried to board a flight from Atlanta with a gun fled the airport after it was accidentally fired in the security screening area. Three people suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the ensuing panic. The gun discharge happened when a screening checkpoint employee was conducting a bag search after it was flagged by

Protesters hurled objects at police and broke windows amid anger following the acquittal of a teen who killed two people and injured another at a demonstration, in a verdict that has divided the US. Kyle Rittenhouse was found not guilty of all charges over the August 2020 shootings in Kenosha, Wisconsin. President Joe Biden, who

For the past two weeks the steps in front of the grand courthouse in the small Wisconsin city of Kenosha have been a focal point for supporters of Kyle Rittenhouse as well as supporters of the two men he killed and the third who he injured. And as the verdicts came in there were cheers

Julius Jones’ death sentence has been commuted by Oklahoma’s governor just hours before his execution. Jones, who was convicted of killing Paul Howell, a businessman in the affluent Oklahoma City suburb of Edmond, in 1999, was scheduled to receive a lethal injection at 4pm on Thursday at the State Penitentiary in McAlester. The 41-year-old has

Tiger King star Carole Baskin has reacted to claims that her former husband is alive and well, having apparently been found in Costa Rica. Don Lewis went missing in 1997, after marrying Baskin six years earlier, and was later legally declared dead in 2002. In the first season of Netflix’s smash-hit Tiger King, producers explored

US rapper Young Dolph has been shot dead at a cookie shop in his hometown of Memphis, police have said. The 36-year-old star, real-name Adolph Roberton Thornton Jr, was gunned down outside Makeda’s Cookies near Memphis International Airport on Wednesday in the US state of Tennessee. Memphis Police said they had no information on the

A man who describes himself as the “QAnon Shaman” has been jailed for 41 months over his participation in the US Capitol riot. Jacob Chansley, who calls himself Jake Angeli, was among the first people to storm the building following Donald Trump’s rally in Washington on 6 January. Images of Chansley bare-chested, wearing a pair

A teenager has been found not guilty of the murders of two men and the attempted murder of a third at a demonstration in Wisconsin. Kyle Rittenhouse, 18, had pleaded self-defence after the widely publicised incident in Kenosha during protests sparked by the shooting of a black man, Jacob Blake, by a white police officer

A teenager has been found not guilty of the murders of two men and the attempted murder of a third at a demonstration in Wisconsin. Kyle Rittenhouse, 18, had pleaded self-defence over the shootings in the city of Kenosha in August 2020. The deadly incident happened during protests sparked by the shooting of a black

Workers at Amazon’s warehouses in California were left “terrified” and “powerless” as the company concealed COVID-19 outbreaks from them, according to the state’s attorney general. The company has been ordered to pay a $500,000 (£370,000) fine to the State of California for failing to adequately notify its staff and health agencies of case numbers. Officials

A dad shielded his daughter in his arms – saving her life during a plane crash on Lake Michigan at the weekend, a family friend has said. Mike Perdue reportedly died saving his daughter’s life in a light-commuter plane crash near Beaver Island on Saturday. The 11-year-old was the sole survivor of the crash that

US President Joe Biden has held a virtual meeting with China’s Xi Jinping and began on a positive note – saying their goal is to ensure competition “does not veer into conflict”. The two leaders met on a video call amid rising tensions between the US and China, which have long had a strained relationship.

A man charged with killing 18 women in Texas is set to go on trial over one of the deaths. Billy Chemirmir, 48, faces life in prison without parole if convicted of capital murder over the death of 81-year-old Lu Thi Harris. Prosecutors have decided not to seek the death penalty. Chemirmir has been accused

A nine-year-old boy has become the youngest person to die from injuries sustained during a crowd surge at a Travis Scott concert in Houston. Ezra Blount from Dallas is now the tenth person to die following the incident at the Astroworld music festival. He died on Sunday at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, family lawyer

Hackers have targeted a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) email system by sending thousands of messages warning of a cyber attack. Fake emails appeared to come from a legitimate FBI email address ending in @ic.fbi.gov, the agency said in a statement. A copy of one of the fake emails sent was posted on Twitter by

A man who spent 24 years behind bars for a murder he has repeatedly said he did not commit has been pardoned. Dontae Sharpe is now able to apply for up to $750,000 (£560,000) compensation for his wrongful conviction after the move by North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper on Friday. Mr Cooper said: “Mr Sharpe

Former Trump aide Steve Bannon has been indicted by a federal grand jury on two counts of contempt of the US Congress. Bannon, who was White House chief strategist under Donald Trump, is accused of failing to comply with a subpoena issued by a House Select Committee investigating the US Capitol riot on 6 January.