A show by the artist Isabelle Brourman, who sketched the trials of Donald J. Trump, attracted figures from the art world, the media and some lawyers from his civil fraud trial.
The artist Isabelle Brourman, in a blue coat, poses for a selfie with Andrew Amer and Colleen Faherty, lawyers who helped New York’s attorney general argue Donald J. Trump’s civil fraud case, at the Will Shott Gallery in Manhattan.
Special guests, including Simone Biles and Oprah Winfrey, offered tributes to the longtime host, capping off a week that “Today” had called a “Hoda-bration!”
A judge annulled the marriage after accepting the woman was tricked
A woman in Australia has annulled her marriage after realising that a fake wedding ceremony she took part in for a social media stunt was in fact real.
The unknowing bride said her partner was a social media influencer who convinced her to take part in the ceremony as a "prank" for his Instagram account.
She only discovered the marriage was genuine when he tried to use it to gain permanent residency in Australia.
A Melbourne judge granted the annulment after accepting the woman was tricked into getting married, in a judgment published on Thursday.
The bizarre case began in September 2023 when the woman met her partner on an online dating platform. They began seeing each other regularly in Melbourne, where they lived at the time.
In December that year, the man proposed to the woman and she accepted.
Two days later, the woman attended an event with the man in Sydney. She was told it would be a "white party" - where attendees would wear white-coloured clothing - and was told to pack a white dress.
But when they arrived she was "shocked" and "furious" to find no other guests present except for her partner, a photographer, the photographer's friend and a celebrant, according to her deposition quoted in court documents.
"So when I got there, and I didn't see anybody in white, I asked him, 'What's happening?'. And he pulled me aside, and he told me that he's organising a prank wedding for his social media, to be precise, Instagram, because he wants to boost his content, and wants to start monetising his Instagram page," she said.
She said she accepted his explanation as "he was a social media person" who had more than 17,000 followers on Instagram. She also believed that a civil marriage would only be valid if it was held in a court.
Still, she remained concerned. The woman rang a friend and voiced her worries, but the friend "laughed it off" and said it would be fine because, if it were real, they would have had to file a notice of intended marriage first, which they had not.
Reassured, the woman went through the ceremony where she and her partner exchanged wedding vows and kissed in front of a camera. She said she was happy at that time to "play along" to "make it look real".
Two months later, her partner asked her to add him as a dependent in her application for permanent residency in Australia. Both of them are foreigners.
When she told him she could not as they were technically not married, he then revealed that their Sydney wedding ceremony had been genuine, according to the woman's testimony.
The woman later found their marriage certificate, and discovered a notice of intended marriage which had been filed the month before their Sydney trip - before they even got engaged - which she said she did not sign. According to the court documents, the signature on the notice bears little resemblance to the woman's.
"I'm furious with the fact that I didn't know that that was a real marriage, and the fact that he also lied from the beginning, and the fact that he also wanted me to add him in my application," she said.
In his deposition, the man claimed they had "both agreed to these circumstances" and that following his proposal the woman had agreed to marry him at an "intimate ceremony" in Sydney.
The judge ruled that the woman was "mistaken about the nature of the ceremony performed" and "did not provide real consent to her participation" in the marriage.
"She believed she was acting. She called the event 'a prank'. It made perfect sense for her to adopt the persona of a bride in all things at the impugned ceremony so as to enhance the credibility of the video depicting a legally valid marriage," he stated in the judgement.
A panel found Insp Charles Ehikioya's messages amounted to gross miscounduct
The head of the Met's Black Police Association (MBPA) has been found to have committed gross misconduct over a group chat where racist, sexist and inappropriate messages were sent and received.
Insp Charles Ehikioya was in a WhatsApp chat with former officer Carlo Francisco where offensive messages sent and received.
The officer had denied the allegations against him and said the claims were fabricated or falsely attributed to him because of his race or position as chair of the MBPA.
A panel found his conduct amounted to a breach of the standards of professional behaviour and said it was "so serious as to potentially justify dismissal".
The panel, led by Cdr Jason Prins, found Insp Ehikioya breached standards in respect of equality and diversity, discreditable conduct and challenging and reporting improper conduct proven at a hearing on Friday.
A decision on whether he will be dismissed has not been made yet.
In more than 7,000 messages between 2017 and 2020, the officer was said to have sent and received jokes, pictures and videos, it was heard previously.
He sent an image of the late Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, with the comment "message from the other side, tell the Muslims there's no 72 virgins left", it was previously said.
There was also a series of "racist" messages about Chinese people, the hearing was told.
Jokes about sex with a girl with Down's syndrome, and mockery of the late Duke of Edinburgh's car crash, were also in the chatlog, as was a video in which there was a child with a naked bottom, James Berry, representing the Met, said previously.
PA Media
Insp Ehikioya's conduct was "so serious as to potentially justify dismissal", the panel found
On 1 April 2019, Insp Ehikioya told Mr Francisco to "stop sending or receiving these silly porns", saying he could get into "trouble", the hearing was told.
Cdr Prins said the panel "found that Inspector Ehikioya has engaged in racist, sexist, misogynistic and otherwise inappropriate behaviour".
He added: "The panel finds to a large extent that the messages speak for themselves."
He also said they found his defence of the allegations to be "fanciful" and "far-fetched".
Commander Prins said: "The panel found that the messages sent by Inspector Ehikioya or received by him, which he failed to challenge or report, deeply damage public confidence in the police service."
The hearing was adjourned until later on Friday for the panel to consider its sanction.
The US has announced an increased $25m (£20.4m) reward for information leading to the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on the day he was sworn in for a third six-year term in office.
The inauguration ceremony was overshadowed by recrimination from the international community and Venezuelan opposition leaders.
Rewards have also been offered for information leading to the arrest and or conviction of Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello.
A new reward of up to $15m for Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino has also been offered.
The UK also issued sanctions on 15 top Venezuelan officials, including judges, members of the security forces and military officials.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said those sanctioned were responsible for "undermining democracy, the rule of law, and human rights violations".
Foreign Secretary David Lammy went on to describe Maduro's regime as "fraudulent".
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Moment house collapses in Studio City as LA wildfires rage on
Out-of-control wildfires are ripping across parts of Los Angeles, leading to at least five deaths, burning down hundreds of buildings, and prompting more than 130,000 people to flee their homes in America's second-largest city.
Despite the efforts of firefighters, the biggest blazes remain totally uncontained - with weather conditions and the underlying impact of climate change expected to continue fanning the flames for days to come.
What's the latest?
More than 137,000 people have been forced to leave their homes - many of them simply carrying whatever belongings they can.
Police say at least five people have died, and their bodies found near the Eaton Fire - but their cause of death is not yet known.
Like the even larger Palisades Fire, the Eaton Fire remains totally uncontained. Meanwhile, the new Sunset Fire is menacing the well-known Hollywood Hills area.
More than 1,000 structures are known to have been destroyed - including houses, schools and businesses on the iconic Sunset Boulevard. A fire ecologist has told the BBC that "entire neighbourhoods... have been wiped out".
Among the celebrities who have lost their homes are Leighton Meester and Adam Brody, who attended the Golden Globes just days ago, and Paris Hilton.
There is a glimmer of hope for firefighters, as the fire weather outlook for southern California has been downgraded from "extremely critical" to "critical".
But BBC weather forecaster Sarah Keith-Lucas says there is no rain forecast in the area for at least the next week, meaning conditions remain ripe for fire.
Mass disruption has been reported due to traffic buildup. A number of schools and the the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have been forced to close.
A political row about the city's preparedness has erupted after it emerged that some firefighters' hoses have run dry - an issue seized upon by US President-elect Donald Trump.
There are at least five fires raging in the wider area, according to California fire officials early on Thursday:
Palisades: The first fire to erupt on Tuesday and the biggest fire in the region, which could become the most destructive fire in state history. It has scorched a sizable part of land, covering more than 17,200 acres, including the upscale Pacific Palisades neighbourhood
Eaton: It has struck the northern part of Los Angeles, blazing through cities such as Altadena. It's the second biggest fire in the area, burning around 10,600 acres
Hurst: Located just north of San Fernando, it began burning on Tuesday night and has grown to 855 acres, though firefighters have had some successlimited in containing it
Lidia: It broke out on Wednesday afternoon in the mountainous Acton area north of Los Angeles and grew to cover almost 350 acres. Authorities say it has been 40% contained
Sunset: It broke out Wednesday evening in Hollywood Hills, growing to about 20 acres in less than an hour. It now covers around 43 acres
The earlier Woodley and Olivas fires have now been contained, according to local fire authorities.
Officials have pointed to high winds and drought in the area, which has made vegetation very dry and easy to burn.
The likely impact of climate change has also been cited been blamed - although the exact circumstances remain unclear.
Some 95% of wildfires in the area are started by humans, according to David Acuna, a battalion chief at the Californian Fire Service, although officials are yet to state how they think the current fires started.
An important factor that has been cited in the spread of the blazes is the Santa Ana winds, which blow from inland towards the coast. With speeds of more than 60mph (97 km/h), these are believed to have fanned the flames.
Although strong winds and lack of rain are driving the blazes, experts say climate change is altering the background conditions and increasing the likelihood of such fires.
US government research is unequivocal in linking climate change to larger and more severe wildfires in the western United States.
"Climate change, including increased heat, extended drought, and a thirsty atmosphere, has been a key driver in increasing the risk and extent of wildfires in the western United States," the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says.
And following a very warm summer and lack of rain in recent months, California is particularly vulnerable.
Fire season in southern California is generally thought to stretch from May to October - but the state's governor, Gavin Newsom, has pointed out earlier that blazes had become a perennial issue. "There's no fire season," he said. "It's fire year."
Speaking to the BBC, Mr Acuna said the Palisades Fire represented only the third occasion in the past 30 years that a major fire had broken out in January.
The affluent Los Angeles neighbourhood of Pacific Palisades typically has strangers walking around, trying to catch a glimpse of celebrities' houses.
Now, though, its streets are filled with firefighters battling a 3,000-acre wildfire that is ravaging the area.
Across the city, more than 30,000 have been forced to evacuate their homes as winds stoke three fires. A state of emergency has been declared, leaving roads gridlocked as people flee.
Among them, a number of famous faces have been forced to flee their usually idyllic California homes, including Star Wars' Mark Hamill and Schitt's Creek actor Eugene Levy.
James Woods, who has starred in films including Nixon and Casino, described evacuating his home on social media, and said he was not sure if it was still standing.
"It feels like losing a loved one," he wrote.
Pacific Palisades is known for being exclusive, with a house costing $4.5m (£3.6m) on average as of November 2024, according to Realtor.com.
The north LA neighbourhood is bordered on the south with a three-mile (4.8km) stretch of beaches on the Pacific Ocean, nestled between Malibu and Santa Monica.
It is a hub for trendy shops, cafes and a farmers' market.
But the Palisades fire - which grew from 10 acres to over 2,900 in a matter of hours - has shattered they area's idyllic nature.
Mark Hamill, of Star Wars fame, called the blaze the "most horrific fire since '93" - which burned 18,000 acres and destroyed 323 homes in nearby Malibu - in a post on Instagram.
He said he evacuated his home in Malibu "so last-minute there [were] small fires on both sides of the road".
Levy, who rose to fame for his role in film series American Pie, told local media he was forced to evacuate his home.
"The smoke looked pretty black and intense over Temescal Canyon. I couldn't see any flames but the smoke was very dark," he recounted to the Los Angeles Times.
Reality star's Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag lost their family home in the fire, his sister wrote on Instagram.
"I am beyond heartbroken for my brother, Heidi and the kids," she said. "Even the fire station in the Palisades has burned down."
Miles Teller, best known for his role in Top Gun: Maverick, and his wife Keleigh, also live in the area.
Posting on Instagram, Mrs Teller shared a picture of the fires and a heart-break emoji. She urged people to leave bowls of water for animals as they evacuate their homes.
Meanwhile, Actor Steve Guttenberg, known for Police Academy, stayed to help firefighters by moving cars in order to make room for incoming fire trucks.
He urged residents to leave the keys to their abandoned cars so they could be moved out the way of firefighters.
"We really need people to move their cars," he told news outlet KTLA: "This is not a parking lot."
Getty Images
It is not just famous residents affected by the wildfire - notable buildings in the area are under threat as well.
The Palisades Charter High School - which has served as a set for movies and counts several notable people as former students - has been damaged by fire, local media reports.
The fire-stricken school has been used in films including 1976 horror classic Carrie and Project X, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Former students include director JJ Abrams, musician Will.i.am, and actors Forest Whitaker and Katey Sagal.
The Getty Villa is an art museum in the Palisades that has a large collection of artworks and artefacts, including works by Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet.
The museum confirmed on Tuesday that it had closed to the public and that some trees and vegetation on site had burned - but said that "no structures are on fire, and staff and the collection remain safe".
Star studded events due to take place in the area have also been cancelled.
Film premiers for Unstoppable, Better Man and Wolfman have been called off, as has the Screen Actors Guild Awards live nominations event.
Stronger-than-expected data on the labor market has added to clues that the economy continues to run at a solid pace, amplifying fears about stubborn inflation.
Israel and its allies have escalated strikes against the Houthis to try to force them to stop firing on Israel and Red Sea shipping lanes, but it was not clear whether they would deter the Iran-backed militia.
An oil tanker that Finnish authorities said might have been part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” of tankers that Moscow has used to evade existing oil sanctions. The new U.S. sanctions target more than 180 vessels from the fleet.
Eliza and Henrietta Huszti were last seen in the early hours of Tuesday in Aberdeen city centre
Police are searching for two sisters in Aberdeen who were last seen three days ago.
Eliza and Henrietta Huszti, both 32 and who live in Aberdeen city centre, were last seen in Market Street at Victoria Bridge at about 02:12 GMT on Tuesday.
They then crossed the bridge and turned into a footpath next to the River Dee in the direction of Aberdeen Boat Club.
Police Scotland said they are carrying "extensive enquires" and searches to find the sisters, including the use of police dogs and the marine unit.
Family handout
The Huszti sisters were last seen on CCTV in Aberdeen's Market Street at Victoria Bridge
Both Eliza and Henrietta are described as being white, slim build with long, brown hair.
Police said the side of Victoria Bridge in the Torry area, where they were last seen, contained many commercial and industrial units and searches are ongoing there.
It added it was urging businesses in and around the South Esplanade and Menzies Road area to review CCTV footage recorded in the early hours of Tuesday and dashcam footage.
Ch Insp Darren Bruce said: "We are continuing to speak to people who know Eliza and Henrietta and we urge anyone who has seen them or who has any information regarding their whereabouts to please contact 101 quoting incident number 0735 of Tuesday, 7 January, 2025."
A 4x4 makes its way through a snow covered road in Harrogate, North Yorkshire
Commuters are being warned of icy roads and travel disruption, as temperatures plummeted again overnight across the UK.
Fresh weather warnings have been issued, with snow, ice and fog forecast across southern England, Wales, Northern Ireland and northern Scotland on Thursday.
It will be mainly dry elsewhere with winter sunshine, but temperatures could fall again to as low as -16C on Thursday night.
The cold snap has already brought heavy snowfall to some areas, and dozens of flood alerts and warnings are in place due to either heavy rain or melting snow.
On Wednesday the lowest temperature recorded was -8.4C (16F) in Shap, Cumbria, according to the Met Office.
It comes as an amber cold health alert remains in place for all of England until Sunday, meaning the forecast weather is expected to have significant impacts across health - including a rise in deaths.
The Hills/BBC Weather Watcher
A sheep walks in snow in Huddersfield
The Met Office says travel disruption to road and rail services is likely on Thursday in areas covered by warnings, as well potential for accidents in icy places.
There are five warnings in place:
A yellow warning for snow and ice is in place for northern Scotland until midnight on Thursday
A yellow warning for ice has been issued until 10:30 across southern England and south-east Wales
Two yellow warnings for snow and ice are in force until 11:00 GMT - one across western Wales and north-west England, and south-west England; and another for Northern Ireland
A yellow warning for fog until 09:00 in Northern Ireland
Sue B/BBC Weather Watchers
A teenager made a snow sculpture of Venus in her garden in Leeds
On Wednesday snow caused some roads to close and motorists to be stationary for "long periods of time" in Devon and Cornwall, according to authorities there.
Gritters working into Thursday morning have been fitted with ploughs to clear routes in the area.
Car insurer RAC said it has seen the highest levels of demand for rescues in a three-day period since December 2022.
"Cold conditions will last until at least the weekend, so we urge drivers to remain vigilant of the risks posed by ice and, in some locations, snow," said RAC breakdown spokeswoman Alice Simpson.
National Rail have also advised passengers to check before they travel, as ice and snow can mean speed restrictions and line closures.
On Wednesday evening, poor weather was affecting Northern and Great Western Railway.
Buses are also replacing trains between Llandudno Junction and Blaenau Ffestiniog until Monday.
A car covered in snow on a road in Buxton, Derbyshire
The wintry conditions have caused significant disruption across the UK since snow swept many parts of the country at the weekend.
Hundreds of schools were closed in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, including schools in Yorkshire, Merseyside, the Midlands and Aberdeenshire.
The country has also been hit by widespread flooding in recent days. Currently there are 68 flood warnings - meaning flooding is expected - in England and three in Wales.
The weather is expected to be less cold over the weekend.
Mel Gibson has revealed his home has been destroyed in the Los Angeles wildfires while he was away recording Joe Rogan's podcast.
The Oscar-winning film star said his Malibu property was "completely toasted" and criticised California Governor Gavin Newsom over the crisis.
At least 10 people have died in the wildfires, which have burned down thousands of buildings and prompted the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents.
A host of celebrities have told how they have lost their properties, while officials have warned more high winds could further fan the flames of the wildfires.
Gibson said he felt "ill at ease" during his visit to Austin, Texas, to appear as a guest on The Joe Rogan Experience, because he knew his neighbourhood was "on fire".
"It's kind of devastating, it's emotional," Gibson said on NewsNation's Elizabeth Vargas Reports.
"I've been relieved from the burden of my stuff because it's all in cinders."
The Braveheart star said he had lived at his property for about 15 years and the homes of some of his neighbours had also "gone", including one belonging to actor Ed Harris.
Gibson said his family had followed an evacuation order and they were safe.
In the podcast with Rogan, Gibson criticised the California governor, saying Newsom claimed he was "going to take care of the forests" but "didn't do anything".
"I think all our tax dollars probably went for Gavin's hair gel," the actor said.
Los Angeles is facing the worst wildfires in its history, which have consumed 31,000 acres (12,500 hectares) of land and led to the evacuation of 180,000 people.
Five wildfires are still burning across the LA areas of Palisades, Eaton, Kenneth, Hurst and Lidia.
California fire chief David Acuna told Radio 4's Today programme that 10,000 structures are likely to have been destroyed. He also warned that winds over the coming days could lead to further destruction in the area.
Republican President-elect Donald Trump has called for Newsom, a Democrat, to resign over his handling of the crisis, saying "one of the best and most beautiful" parts of the US is "burning down to the ground".
Newsom has defended the response and said state authorities were "throwing everything at our disposal" to protect communities.
The governor's spokeswoman accused Trump of politicising the disaster and said Newsom was focused on protecting people and making sure firefighters have the resources they need.
US President Joe Biden said he had pledged extra federal resources to help California after "the most widespread, devastating fire" in the state's history.
Getty Images
A firefighter battles flames at a property in Palisades, Los Angeles
Celebrities who have lost homes
Paris Hilton and Billy Crystal are among the celebrities whose homes have been destroyed in the wildfires.
Hilton, the hotel heiress and reality TV star, shared a video of the remains of her property on social media and said "the heartbreak is truly indescribable".
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Actor Crystal said in a statement that he and his wife Janice were "heartbroken" by the loss of their Pacific Palisades home where they had lived since 1979.
TV host Ricki Lake said she had lost her "dream home", adding: "I grieve along with all of those suffering during this apocalyptic event."
The US Office star Rainn Wilson shared a video of his burnt-out home and said there was a "valuable lesson" to learn from the wildfires.
Actors Sir Anthony Hopkins, John Goodman, Anna Faris and Cary Elwes also reportedly lost their homes.
Meanwhile, actor Steve Guttenberg, a Pacific Palisades resident, helped to move parked cars to make way for fire engines.
"This is not a parking lot," he told KTLA. "I have friends up there and they can't evacuate."
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who live in California, are understood to have invited into their home friends and loved ones who had been forced to evacuate.
In a statement on their website, Harry and Meghan said: "If a friend, loved one, or pet has to evacuate, and you are able to offer them a safe haven in your home, please do."
The accused mastermind of the 9/11 terror attacks on the US will no longer plead guilty on Friday, after the US government moved to block plea deals reached last year from going ahead.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, often referred to as KSM, was due to deliver his pleas at a war court on the Guantanamo Bay naval base in south-eastern Cuba, where he has been held in a military prison for almost two decades.
Mohammed is Guantanamo's most notorious detainee and one of the last held at the base.
But a federal appeals court on Thursday evening halted the scheduled proceedings to consider requests from the government to abandon the plea deals for Mohammed and two co-defendants, which it said would cause "irreparable" harm to both it and the public.
A three-judge panel said the delay "should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits", but was aimed at giving the court time to receive a full briefing and hear arguments "on an expedited basis".
The delay means that the matter will now fall into the incoming Trump administration.
What was scheduled to happen this week?
At a hearing beginning on Friday morning, Mohammed was scheduled to plead guilty to his role in the 11 September 2001 attacks, when hijackers seized passenger planes and crashed them into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon outside of Washington. Another plane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania after passengers fought back.
Mohammed has been charged with offences including conspiracy and murder, with 2,976 victims listed on the charge sheet.
He has previously said that he planned the "9/11 operation from A-to-Z" - conceiving the idea of training pilots to fly commercial planes into buildings and taking those plans to Osama bin Laden, leader of the militant Islamist group al-Qaeda, in the mid 1990s.
Friday's hearing was set to happen in a courtroom on the base, where family members of those killed and the press would have been seated in a viewing gallery behind thick glass.
Photo courtesy of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s legal team
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
Why is this all happening 23 years after 9/11?
Pre-trial hearings, held at a military court on the naval base, have been going on for more than a decade, complicated by questions over whether torture Mohammed and other defendants faced while in US custody taints the evidence.
Following his arrest in Pakistan in 2003, Mohammed spent three years at secret CIA prisons known as "black sites" where he was subjected to simulated drowning, or "waterboarding", 183 times, among other so-called "advanced interrogation techniques" that included sleep deprivation and forced nudity.
Karen Greenberg, author of The Least Worst Place: How Guantanamo Became the World's Most Notorious Prison, says the use of torture has made it "virtually impossible to bring these cases to trial in a way that honors the rule of law and American jurisprudence".
"It's apparently impossible to present evidence in these cases without the use of evidence derived from torture. Moreover, the fact that these individuals were tortured adds another level of complexity to the prosecutions," she says.
The case also falls under the military commissions, which operate under different rules than the traditional US criminal justice system and slow the process down.
The plea deal was struck last summer, following some two years of negotiations.
What does the plea deal include?
The full details of the deals reached with Mohammed and two of his co-defendants have not been released.
We do know that a deal means he would not face a death penalty trial.
In a court hearing on Wednesday, his legal team confirmed that he had agreed to plead guilty to all charges. Mohammed did not address the court personally, but engaged with his team as they went over the agreement, making small corrections and changes to wording with the prosecution and the judge.
If the deals are upheld and the pleas are accepted by the court, the next steps would be appointing a military jury, known as a panel, to hear evidence at a sentencing hearing.
In court on Wednesday, this was described by lawyers as a form of public trial, where survivors and family members of those killed would be given the opportunity to give statements.
Under the agreement, the families would also be able to pose questions to Mohammed, who would be required to "answer their questions fully and truthfully", lawyers say.
Central to the prosecution agreeing to the deals was a guarantee "that we could present all of the evidence that we thought was necessary to establish a historical record of the accused's involvement in what happened on September 11th," prosecutor, Clayton G. Trivett Jr., said in court on Wednesday.
Even if the pleas go ahead, it would be many months before these proceedings would begin and a sentence ultimately delivered.
Reuters
The case against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, shown here during a 2012 pre-trial hearing, has been ongoing for two decades at the U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay.
Why is the US government trying to block the pleas?
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin appointed the senior official who signed the deal. But he was travelling at the time it was signed and was reportedly caught by surprise, according to the New York Times.
Days later, he attempted to revoke it, saying in a memo: "Responsibility for such a decision should rest with me as the superior authority."
However, both a military judge and a military appeals panel ruled that the deal was valid, and that Mr Austin had acted too late.
In another bid to block the deal, the government this week asked a federal appeals court to intervene.
In a legal filing, it said Mohammed and the two other men were charged with "perpetrating the most egregious criminal act on American soil in modern history" and that enforcing the agreements would "deprive the government and the American people of a public trial as to the respondents' guilt and the possibility of capital punishment, despite the fact that the Secretary of Defense has lawfully withdrawn those agreements".
Following the announcement of the deal last summer, Republican Senator Mitch McConnell, then the party's leader in the chamber, released a statement describing it as "a revolting abdication of the government's responsibility to defend America and provide justice".
What have the victims' families said?
Some families of those killed in the attacks have also criticised the deal, saying it is too lenient or lacks transparency.
Speaking to the BBC's Today Programme last summer, Terry Strada, whose husband Tom was killed in the attacks, described the deal as "giving the detainees in Guantanamo Bay what they want".
Ms Strada, the national chair of the campaign group 9/11 Families United, said: "This is a victory for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the other two, it's a victory for them."
Other families see the agreements as a path towards convictions in the complex and long-running proceedings and were disappointed by the government's latest intervention.
Stephan Gerhardt, whose younger brother Ralph was killed in the attacks, had flown to Guantanamo Bay to watch Mohammed plead guilty.
"What is the end goal for the Biden administration? So they get the stay and this drags into the next administration. To what end? Think about the families. Why are you prolonging this saga?" he said.
Mr Gerhardt told the BBC the deals were "not a victory" for the families, but that it was "time to find a way to close this, to convict these men".
Families on the base were meeting with the press when news of the delay was made public.
"It was supposed to be a time of healing. We'll board that plane still with that deep sense of pain – there's just no end to it," one said.
Why are the proceedings happening in Guantanamo?
Mohammed has been held in a military prison in Guantanamo Bay since 2006.
The prison was opened 23 years ago - on 11 January 2002 - during the "war on terror" that followed the 9/11 attacks, as a place to hold terror suspects and "illegal enemy combatants".
Most of those held here were never charged and the military prison has faced criticism from rights groups and the United Nations over its treatment of detainees. The majority have now been repatriated or resettled in other countries.
The prison currently holds 15 - the smallest number at any point in its history. All but six of them have been charged with or convicted of war crimes.
As wildfires roar into residential neighborhoods, firefighters in California and elsewhere are finding that water systems can’t keep up with the demand.
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