Maxwell, 60, faces 30 to 55 years in prison after she was found guilty of procuring teenage girls for Jeffrey Epstein to abuse
Ghislaine Maxwell is scheduled to be sentenced on Tuesday morning in her New York sex-trafficking case, some six months after a jury found the British socialite guilty of luring teenage girls into Jeffrey Epstein’s orbit for him to abuse.
Maxwell, 60, faces up to 55 years in prison.
Continue reading...In New York demonstrations fell on Pride weekend, as thousands gathered downtown to celebrate and give voice to anger
Protests over a US supreme court decision that overturned abortion rights continued across the country this weekend. In New York, thousands marched to voice their anger at the ruling that came at the end of a dizzying week around not just reproductive rights but also gun carry laws and the US Capitol attack.
“Not your uterus, not your choice,” many shouted as the demonstrations progressed in Washington DC., New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, Atlanta and Austin.
Continue reading...Move prompts Maxwell’s attorney to seek to postpone her sentencing because she can’t properly prepare for the hearing
Guards at the federal prison where Ghislaine Maxwell awaits her sentencing for her role in an elaborate child sexual abuse case have placed her on suicide watch, though she isn’t suicidal, according to court records.
The move prompted the British socialite’s attorney to write a letter telling the judge in the case that Maxwell would seek to postpone her sentencing Tuesday because she can’t properly prepare for the hearing. Prison officials on Friday took away Maxwell’s legal papers – along with her regular clothes, toothpaste and soap – while putting her in solitary confinement and on suicide watch, said the letter from her attorney Bobby Sternheim.
Continue reading...The disgraced British socialite’s lawyers argued that she was threatened in jail and cannot be made proxy for Jeffrey Epstein
Ghislaine Maxwell’s attorneys argued on Wednesday that the disgraced British socialite should be sentenced to “well below” the 20 years imprisonment that probation authorities have recommended in her New York federal sex-trafficking case.
In a pre-sentencing report, Maxwell’s attorneys provided detailed descriptions of her allegedly perilous conditions in jail, and described an emotionally distressing upbringing, as part of their argument for leniency.
Continue reading...Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr will also testify in attorney general Letitia James’ inquiry into Trump Organization
Former president Donald Trump will testify under oath on 15 July in New York attorney general Letitia Jame’s investigation into his business practices, according to a court filing released Wednesday.
His daughter Ivanka Trump and son Donald Trump Jr will also testify.
Continue reading...Brooklyn diocese calls it ‘a crime of disrespect and hate’ and says gold relic is irreplaceable because of its historical and artistic value
Police say someone has broken into the altar at a New York City church, stole a $2m gold relic and removed the head from a statue of an angel.
The incident happened between 6.30pm last Thursday and 4pm on Saturday, the police said on Monday, at St Augustine’s Roman Catholic church, known as the “Notre Dame” of Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood.
Continue reading...New York governor seeks to ban people under 21 from buying assault rifles, while California governor intends to sign restrictions, including the right to sue gun manufacturers
With Republicans stonewalling for years on any significant federal gun safety legislation, some states are now rushing to take steps themselves following large-scale shootings in New York and Texas this month.
Democrats in some blue states are making fresh efforts to reinvigorate proposals toward what gun control advocates call “evidence-based policy interventions”.
Continue reading...Al Sharpton calls on ‘all good people’ to stand up for justice at last funeral for victims of racist attack
The last funeral for victims of a gunman’s racist attack on a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, two weeks ago took place on Saturday afternoon, as the oldest person to die in the mass shooting was laid to rest.
Ruth Whitfield, 86, was shot and killed along with nine other people, all of them Black, when a white supremacist and self-declared “eco-fascist” extremist allegedly traveled far from his home to wreak violence and tragedy.
Continue reading...Rhona Graff will be questioned about the former president’s involvement in the Trump Organization’s financial records
The New York attorney general’s office has subpoenaed Donald Trump’s longtime executive assistant and plans to question her under oath next week as part of its civil investigation into the former president’s business dealings.
The subpoena for Rhona Graff was disclosed by a lawyer for the attorney general Letitia James’ office in court papers opposing Trump’s latest bid to rid himself of a contempt of court order for being slow to respond to a subpoena for documents and other evidence.
Continue reading...Police investigate death of Daniel Enriquez on busy train on Sunday morning
An unidentified man shot and killed a passenger on a subway train in New York in what police officials said appeared to be an unprovoked attack.
The incident happened on a Q train travelling over the Manhattan Bridge at about 11.40am on Sunday, a time when the subway is often filled with families, tourists and people heading to brunch.
Continue reading...Former Trump lawyer hurls profanities at parade attender in New York City days after reportedly testifying with January 6 panel
With a reporter’s cellphone recording him, Donald Trump’s sometime lawyer Rudy Giuliani hurled profanities at a pro-Israel parade attender in New York City and said, “You are probably as demented as Biden.”
The video of the former New York mayor’s verbal clash had racked up more than 440,000 views on Monday morning, just two days after he reportedly met for hours with the US House committee investigating the deadly Capitol riots on 6 January 2021.
Continue reading...David Heymann says experts developing guidance for countries, as New York City resident tests positive for Orthopoxvirus
A senior adviser for the World Health Organization has said the monkeypox outbreak seems to be spreading through sexual contact, and warned that case numbers could spike over the summer months as people attend major summer gatherings and festivals.
David Heymann, chair of the WHO’s Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Infectious Hazards with Pandemic and Epidemic Potential, led a meeting of the group on Friday “because of the urgency of the situation”.
Continue reading...Civil rights and community leaders gathered the night before to plead with the nation to confront and stop racist violence
The first of 10 funerals for the 10 Black people killed in a Buffalo supermarket was held on Friday following an impassioned gathering of Black civil rights and community leaders at a church the night before where speakers pleaded with the nation to confront and stop racist violence.
Set against accused shooter Peyton Gendron’s silence in court earlier on Thursday, the community and relatives of Andre Mackneil, Geraldine Talley and Ruth Whitfield gave voice to the grief and anger coursing through East Buffalo.
Continue reading...President attacks those who promote racist conspiracy theory ‘for power, political gain and for profit’ but says ‘evil will not win’
Joe Biden has condemned those who spread white supremacist lies “for power, political gain and for profit” during a visit to Buffalo, New York, where 10 people were killed in a racist shooting last Saturday.
The US president was close to tears as he recalled the victims’ lives, then became angry as he described forces of hatred that have haunted his administration.
Continue reading...My colleague Ed Helmore is at the site of Saturday’s mass shooting in Buffalo, and sent this dispatch about the importance to the predominantly Black community of the supermarket where it happened:
Tops Friendly on Jefferson Avenue in East Buffalo was more than just a grocery store. It served as community center, a place to hang out, a source of employment – and a spot for healthy sustenance unavailable at bodega stores in an area described as the oasis in a food desert.
Continue reading...Eleven of the 13 victims were Black, and two were white, after an 18-year-old white man opened fire at a supermarket in New York
An 18-year-old white man opened fire at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket on Saturday, killing 10 people and wounding three others in what authorities have described as a “hate crime and racially motivated violent extremism”.
Eleven of the 13 victims were Black, and two were white.
This is a developing story and will be updated accordingly.
Continue reading...‘Who pushed this into his head?’ a Buffalo resident asks, while another asks, ‘What made you drive all this way and hit this?’
Vigils were held across Buffalo, New York, for the victims of the Tops Friendly shooting Sunday, as Black residents on the city’s East Side mourned and attempted to come to terms with the brief, brutal event that had been visited on the neighborhood hours earlier.
The square where the shooting took place, surrounded by vacant lots that residents said were the result of decades of segregation and systemic racism, is the community’s center, with Tops Friendly functioning as the only grocery store for the immediate area.
Continue reading...Gunman shot 11 Black and two white victims at a supermarket that he broadcast on streaming platform Twitch before surrendering
After a white 18-year-old wearing military gear and live-streaming with a helmet camera opened fire with a rifle at a supermarket in Buffalo, killing 10 people and wounding three others, US president Joe Biden said racially motivated hate crime was “abhorrent to the very fabric of this nation”.
Police said the attacker shot 11 Black and two white victims before surrendering to authorities in an assault he broadcast on the streaming platform Twitch. Later, he appeared before a judge in a paper medical gown and was arraigned on a first-degree murder charge. He pleaded not guilty.
Continue reading...Alleged gunman Payton Gendron, 18, charged with murder after 13 shot at store in mostly Black neighbourhood
A teenager in military-style clothing opened fire with a rifle at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, in a shooting that officials called a “hate crime and racially motivated violent extremism”, killing 10 people and wounding three others before surrendering to police on Saturday afternoon, authorities said.
Police officials said the 18-year-old, who is white, was wearing body armour and military-style clothing when he pulled up and started shooting at a Tops Friendly Market at about 2.30pm. The attack was streamed via a camera fixed to the man’s helmet.
Continue reading...Former president Juan Orlando Hernández’s also suggests he may seek testimony from Mexican drug lord El Chapo in New York trial
Former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández has pleaded not guilty in a New York court to drug and weapons charges as his lawyer pledged to subpoena three former US presidents – and an imprisoned Mexican drug lord – to testify in his defence.
Hernández, who was extradited last month, wore shackles round his ankles at his arraignment in Manhattan on Tuesday, where he pleaded not guilty to three criminal counts, including conspiracy to import cocaine and weapons possession.
Continue reading...