Personnalités

A Texas grand jury has determined that rapper Travis Scott was not criminally responsible for the crowd crush that killed 10 people and injured thousands more at his 2021 Astroworld music festival. The Harris County grand jury declined criminal charges against Scott and five other people related to the fan deaths. Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed accusing Scott and the concert’s organiser, Live Nation, of negligence. Scott’s attorney Kent Schaffer said Scott and his actions have been inaccurately portrayed, adding that the rapper stopped the show three times and was unaware of the events as they unfolded.

SNP MP Mhairi Black is stepping down at the next general election. Ms Black, the party’s deputy leader at Westminster, became the youngest MP in more than 300 years when she was elected aged 20 in 2015. Her maiden speech was viewed online more than 10 million times within a week. She is the sixth SNP MP to announce they will not contest the next election, which is expected to be held in 2024. In a statement Ms Black, 28, described Westminster as an "outdated, sexist and toxic" working environment. In 2018, she made headlines after detailing some of the abuse she received during a parliamentary debate on misogyny to mark International Women’s Day.

Former New Zealand leader, Jacinda Ardern, who stepped down from her post earlier this year, has been made a dame in one of the country’s highest honours. “Having served as Prime Minister from 2017 to 2023, Dame Jacinda Ardern is recognized for her service to New Zealand during some of the greatest challenges our country has faced in modern times,” Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said in a statement. The move grants Ardern the title of Dame Grand Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. The Order of Merit, established in 1996, is awarded to those in any field who have performed “meritorious service to the Crown and the nation” or who are known for their “eminence, talents, contributions, or other merits,” according to the government site.

Former Vice President Mike Pence promised “the best days of the greatest nation on earth are yet to come” in the video formally launching his campaign for the Republican nomination for president. The move pits him against Donald Trump, the man he served in the White House for four years from 2017 to 2021. Pence and his advisers see Iowa — the state that will cast the first votes of the GOP nominating calendar — as key to his potential pathway to the nomination. His campaign will test the party’s appetite for a socially conservative, mild-mannered and deeply religious candidate who has denounced the populist tide that has swept through his party under former President Donald Trump, from whom he has distanced himself since the US Capitol riots in January 2021.

American lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, was recently hired by Harvey Weinstein to appeal his conviction in a Los Angeles court for sexual assault and rape, after a jury found him guilty, and being sentenced to 16 years in prison. She has become known for her aggressive approach to defending men accused of sexual misconduct in several of the highest profile cases of the #MeToo era, including R. Kelly, Bill Cosby and Keith Raniere. Her firm’s website claims Bonjean, who has the words “not guilty” tattooed on her arm, “works tirelessly to reverse the convictions of innocent people wrongly incarcerated”.

After more than 100 movies in over 45 years of acting, Tom Hanks is now drawing on his experience to craft a story in a very different medium - a novel. Titled The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece, it tells the story of a comic strip that becomes a multimillion dollar superhero movie. The book explores every step in the process of making a movie, from a difficult leading actor, to eccentric writers and countless behind-the-scenes workers. Ultimately, the two-time Oscar winner hopes to challenge people’s perceptions about how movies are made. So far, critics’ verdicts of the book have been lukewarm. But Tom Hanks says his "day job as a movie star" means he can "handle" any criticism.

Humza Yousaf has been elected to succeed Nicola Sturgeon as leader of the SNP and Scotland’s next First Minister. He was widely regarded as the preferred candidate of the SNP establishment - including Ms Sturgeon herself. The Health Secretary was endorsed by far more MSPs and MPs than his two rivals, with Deputy First Minister John Swinney predicting that Mr Yousaf would "complete our journey to independence". His supporters say he is a polished communicator who is best placed to unite the party and maintain the power-sharing agreement with the Scottish Greens after what has been a deeply fractious leadership contest.

Former President Donald Trump has sued the key witness in his criminal case, accusing onetime lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen of “vast reputational harm” for talking publicly about the hush-money payments at the heart of the case. The lawsuit, filed in Miami, offers a preview of arguments that are certain to be featured in Trump’s defence against charges that he falsified internal business records to disguise payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign to silence claims of extramarital sexual encounters. The lawsuit is the latest effort by Trump to use the legal system to go after his political enemies and is another example of the former president turning on a once-loyal aide after their relationship imploded.