Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are courting voters on opposite sides of the gun debate in events that will highlight the United States’ deep divide on the topic.

Former neighbourhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman says he is vetting bids after closing an auction for the handgun he used to kill unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin.

Good afternoon. Here’s all the news you need to know this lunchtime.

Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani blasted Beyoncé’s half-time performance at Super Bowl 50 as “outrageous” due to its apparent allusions to the Black Lives Matter movement and black power imagery.

A childhood friend of the man accused of shooting dead nine people inside a black church in South Carolina said he told him a few weeks ago he had “a plan”.

A Florida man charged with shooting at George Zimmerman last week had “a fixation” on the former neighbourhood watch leader and had recently been admitted to a mental institution, according to a police report made public last night.

George Zimmerman, who was acquitted of murder charges in the 2013 shooting death of an unarmed black teenager in Florida, suffered a minor wound after being shot at in his vehicle yesterday, police said.

The images of Barack Obama urging peace alongside footage of angry protesters shows the yawning gap between substance and symbolism, writes Peniel Joseph

Police cars have been vandalised and several gunshots have been heard on the streets of Ferguson after the announcement that a white police officer will not be indicted over the shooting death of an unarmed black 18-year-old.

A grand jury has reached a decision about whether to charge a white police officer in the shooting dead of Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old, US prosecutors say.

Relatives said goodbye yesterday to the 18-year-old unarmed black man who was shot and killed by a police officer, remembering him as a "gentle soul" with a deep and growing faith in Christianity and ambitions that one day "the world would know his name".

The mourners filled an enormous church to remember Michael Brown – a “gentle giant,” aspiring rapper and recent high school graduate on his way to a technical college but the funeral that unfolded today was about much more than the black 18-year-old who lay in the closed coffin after being shot to death by a white police officer.

Police say a black teenager shot dead by an officer was suspected of robbing a store shortly before he was killed.

St Louis police yesterday identified the officer who fatally shot an unarmed black teenager and released documents alleging the young man had been suspected of stealing a $48.99 box of cigars from a shop in a "strong-arm" robbery shortly before he was killed.

Protests in a US suburb rocked by racial unrest after a white police officer killed an unarmed black teenager has turned violent.

Police fired tear gas after rioting broke out for a second night in Ferguson, Missouri, despite calls for calm from the mother of a black teenager who was shot to death by police at the weekend.

A software developer has been convicted of attempted murder for shooting into a car full of teenagers after an argument over what he called their “thug music”, in the latest Florida case to raise questions about self-defence and race.

AS 2013 closes, here is my countdown of what were the stories that left the most impression on me during the year.

Country-pop star Taylor Swift scored big at the American Music Awards, taking home four wins including the night’s top prize for artist of the year, as some of pop music’s biggest names came together for the fan-voted awards ceremony.

The former neighbourhood watch volunteer cleared over his high-profile killing of an unarmed black teenager tried to choke his girlfriend and left her fearing for her life, a Florida court has heard.

George Zimmerman, who was acquitted last summer in the fatal shooting of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin, was granted bail after his arrest on assault charges for an incident in which he is alleged to have pulled a shotgun on his girlfriend.

Chris Brown says he still faces "blatant racism".

The estranged wife of a former neighbourhood watch volunteer cleared over the fatal shooting of a black teenager does not want to press charges against him despite claiming that he threatened her and her father, police in Florida said.

George Zimmerman’s wife has filed for divorce, less than two months after her husband was cleared of murdering teenager Trayvon Martin and a week after she admitted to perjury in his case.

The US is struggling to fully realise the vision that civil rights leader Martin Luther King described in his ‘I have a dream’ speech 50 years ago, as the goal of economic security for all remains elusive, President Barack Obama said yesterday.

Two significant anniversaries in humanity’s visceral but never-ending struggle for justice, recognition and equality fall this week.

Miley Cyrus has admitted to singing about MDMA.

US senator John McCain is backing President Barack Obama’s call for the so-called “stand your ground” laws in Florida and other states to be re-examined in the wake of the George Zimmerman case.

By this point, we all know the facts.

Thousands of demonstrators across the US have joined Trayvon Martin's mother in calling for justice for the killed unarmed teenager.

Thousands of people are gathering today for nationwide rallies in the US.

President Barack Obama has called on Americans to do some soul searching over the death of black teenager Trayvon Martin, delivering an emotional public reflection on race that was rare for the country’s first black president.

Looking for positive lessons to draw from the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, US president Barack Obama said today the nation needs to do some “soul-searching”.

Trayvon Martin’s parents say they are still in shock and disbelief that jurors acquitted George Zimmerman over the death of their 17-year-old son.

A protest over George Zimmerman’s acquittal has led to the arrests of 17 people in a southern California town.

Regarding the recent verdict in the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman case in the USA: Were the Florida prosecutors trained by the California prosecutors and the LAPD?

Following nationwide protests across the US, after a neighbourhood watchman was acquitted of the murder of Trayvon Martin, a protest will take place in Dublin today.

Vigils and rallies will be held in 100 US cities this weekend to press for federal civil rights charges against George Zimmerman over the shooting of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin.

Once you get past the fact of Obama’s election, there hasn’t really been much racial progress in the US, writes Michael Tomasky

The pretence of looking at the facts of a case may have its own prejudice, writes Neal Gabler

When President Barack Obama addressed the death of Trayvon Martin last year, he did so passionately, declaring that if he had a son, he would look like the teenager.

A juror in the trial of George Zimmerman said the actions of both he and Trayvon Martin led to the teenager’s fatal shooting - but the neighbourhood watch volunteer did not break the law.