Biden news: President pledges aid for Covid-stricken India in call with PM Modi Chantal Da Silva and Justin Vallejo
LIVE – Updated at 19:55
Joe Biden pledged additional pandemic supplies to India as the country faces a rapidly increasing number of new Covid cases. In a call with prime minister Narendra Modi, Biden committed to providing emergency assistance including oxygen-related supplies, vaccine materials, and therapeutics.
The Supreme Court has announced it will hear a major gun rights case on whether New Yorkers should be able to carry concealed handguns in public.
Under New York’s long-held handgun licensing law, handgun owners must be able to demonstrate “proper cause” to hold the firearms in order to obtain a license.
Hello and welcome to
The Independent’s live coverage of Ghislaine Maxwell appearing in court - in person - for the fist time since her arrest on sex-trafficking charges.
Justin Vallejo23 April 2021 16:40
The life of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged accomplice
Ghislaine Maxwell, daughter of British newspaper baron Robert Maxwell and his French wife Elisabeth, was born in affluent Maisons-Laffitte in northern France on Christmas Day 1961, the youngest of nine children, writes
The Independent’s Joe Sommerlad.
“Just two days later, her teenage brother Michael was involved in a car accident that would keep him in a prolonged coma until his death in 1967, a tragedy that marked the family. Ghislaine and her siblings were raised in Oxford at the Maxwells’ Headington Hill Hall home, a sprawling mansion that also served as the headquarters for their father’s Pergamon Press publishing outfit, which, at 14, Ghislaine would help by learning to programme a new suite of Wang computers
Ghislaine Maxwell: Socialite is called ‘courageous’ and ‘tough’ by lawyers as she pleads not guilty Justin Vallejo
Replay Video
LIVE – Updated at 20:19
Ghislaine Maxwell pleaded not guilty to new indictments during her first in-person court appearance since being arrested on sex trafficking charges.
While she had previously faced the court via video link from the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Centre, today marked the first live appearance in a US District Court in lower Manhattan.
The new indictment, which adds a victim and extends the timeframe of the charge, supersedes the previous charges that Ms Maxwell had also pleaded not guilty to.
George Floyd news: Jury retires in Chauvin trial as judge says Maxine Waters could overturn verdict James Crump and Justin Vallejo
LIVE – Updated at 23:56
The prosecution has concluded its closing arguments in the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, with the defence to lay out its final arguments next.
Mr Chauvin is currently standing trial for the murder of unarmed Black man George Floyd, who died in the former Minneapolis police officer’s custody last May.
Before the 12 jurors are sequestered to determine the conclusion of the trial, they will hear a final appeal from both sides as the prosecution and defence deliver their closing arguments.
Derek Chauvin verdict - live: Police officer found guilty on all murder charges in George Floyd case James Crump and Justin Vallejo
LIVE – Updated at 21:22
Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has been found guilty on all charges in the murder of George Floyd.
The jury found Mr Chauvin was:
Guilty of second-degree unintentional murder
Guilty of third-degree murder
The verdict was delivered after about 10 hours of deliberations over two days.
Joe Biden cancelled scheduled events to watch the verdict from the West Wing after saying that the evidence was overwhelming and he was praying for the right decision.
Despite the decision, trial judge Peter Cahill previously said comments from Democrat congresswoman Maxine Waters could see the whole trial overturned on appeal. She had encouraged protesters to get more confrontational if Mr Chauvin was not found guilty.