It was an image shared thousands of times on social media soon after the Boston Marathon explosions – that of a blonde, bespectacled girl running along a street and wearing a red T-shirt, runner’s gear and a bib.

A 12-year-old boy has been killed by an alligator as he swam with friends in a Florida river, police said today.

A grand jury has indicted a Virginia teenager on charges of murder and solicitation to murder over the killing of her DNA scientist father who was stabbed to death with a sword.