A woman who alleged she was sexually assaulted by US President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, has identified herself.
Christine Blasey Ford told the Washington Post Mr. Kavanaugh had pinned her to a bed and tried to undress her when they were both teenagers.
Mr. Kavanaugh denied the allegations when they first surfaced last week.
The top members of the Senate Judiciary Committee are now expected to speak to both Mr. Kavanaugh and Mrs. Ford.
A spokesperson for Senator Chuck Grassley, the committee’s Republican chairman, said he was “actively working” to set up bipartisan calls to both people as a result of “the late addendum to the background file and revelations of Dr Ford’s identity.”
Such calls would routinely include Senator Grassley’s senior Democratic colleague, Senator Dianne Feinstein.
Mr. Kavanaugh, 53, was questioned during four days of hearings at the Senate Judiciary Committee last week.
The committee is due to vote on Thursday on whether his nomination should go forward to a full vote in the Senate.
When did the alleged assault take place?
Mrs. Ford, a professor of psychology at Palo Alto University, told The Post she had decided to go public as her privacy was “being chipped away.”
She believed the incident happened in 1982, when she was 15 and Mr. Kavanaugh was 17.
He was a student at Georgetown Preparatory School in Bethesda, Maryland, and she was studying at a nearby high school.
The incident allegedly happened at a gathering of teenagers at a house, when Mr. Kavanaugh and a friend allegedly “corralled” her into a bedroom.
Mr. Kavanaugh and his friend were both drunk, she says.
In the words of the Washington Post, “While his friend watched, she said, Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed on her back and groped her over her clothes, grinding his body against hers and clumsily attempting to pull off her one-piece bathing suit and the clothing she wore over it.
“When she tried to scream, she said, he put his hand over her mouth.”
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Typhoon Mangkhut: South China battered by deadly storm
A powerful storm which killed dozens of people in the Philippines is now making its way across southern China.
Typhoon Mangkhut is one of the most powerful storms to hit the region in decades.
Two people have been killed in the Chinese province of Guangdong, according to state media – more than 2.5 million people have been evacuated in Guangdong and on Hainan island.
In Hong Kong, the storm wrecked buildings and shut down the city.
The typhoon is now moving inland, and is expected to hit the Chinese regions of Guizhou, Chongqing and Yunnan later in the day.
Videos on social media from Hong Kong, which was hardest hit over the weekend, showed apartments swaying in the wind, scaffolding crashing to the ground and commercial buildings being battered.
Transport services have also been suspended, with flights cancelled, trains stopped and major roads closed.
Videos on social media from Hong Kong, which was hardest hit over the weekend, showed apartments swaying in the wind, scaffolding crashing to the ground and commercial buildings being battered.
Transport services have also been suspended, with flights cancelled, trains stopped and major roads closed.
The city managed to avoid serious casualties but now faces a difficult recovery as thousands still remain affected by flooding and travel disruptions.
