US regulators shut down banks in California, Maryland and Minnesota, pushing to 84 the number of bank failures this year amid the soured economy and rising loan defaults.

A former Roman Catholic priest has been sentenced to eight years in prison for molesting two teenage brothers more than a decade ago.

Three bounty hunters who tracked Max Factor heir Andrew Luster to Mexico have been told by a judge to appear in his court each Monday.

The fugitive heir to the Max Factor cosmetics fortune has been sentenced to 124 years in prison for drugging and raping three women.

A JURY in the US has convicted the fugitive heir to the Max Factor cosmetics fortune on charges of raping three women and drugging two of them at his beach house.