It’s been three long years but still no sign of a trial for two people charged with the attempted murder of young Irish student Natasha McShane and her friend in Chicago.

The reaction to the seismic Mahon Report focussed on the villains of the piece — Ahern, Flynn, Lawlor, Burke and O’Callaghan — and their supporting cast.

John McCain failed to stop his Democratic rival Barack Obama’s momentum in a debate which offered only an occasional direct confrontation between the two men, according to a post-debate poll by CNN.

The State of Illinois has opened a marathon series of clemency hearings for nearly every prisoner on death row in what could be the most sweeping review of capital punishment in US history.