Global report
1 UNITED STATES
R Kelly found guilty of sex trafficking and racketeering
A jury found the R&B superstar R Kelly guilty of being the ringleader of a decades-long racketeering and sex trafficking scheme that preyed upon Black women and children.
The disgraced singer was found guilty on all nine counts on Monday after decades of avoiding criminal responsibility for numerous allegations of misconduct, in a major #MeToo victory for Black women and girls.
The panel of seven men and five women had begun deliberating the charges last Friday at the end of a gruelling six-week trial in Brooklyn, New York, that often presented shocking testimony detailing Kelly’s abuse of women, girls and boys. He remained motionless, eyes downcast as the verdict was read.
“To the victims in this case, your voices were heard and justice was finally served,” the acting US attorney Jacquelyn Kasulis said, announcing the verdict.
The 54-year-old (pictured below in 2019), who was born Robert Sylvester Kelly, was accused of running a Chicago-based criminal enterprise that recruited women and children and subjected them to unwanted sex and mental torment.
2 UNITED STATES
Largest ever annual increase in murders recorded
The US has had its largest recorded annual increase in murders, according to statistics from the FBI, with the national murder rate rising nearly
