A number of black males, claiming to be friends of a 15-year-old Nigerian boy who was stabbed on Good Friday two years ago, were in a “highly agitated and aggressive state” when gardai arrived at the scene, a Central Court jury has heard.

NORTH KOREA said yesterday it convicted and sentenced an American man to eight years in a labour prison and a fine equivalent to €524,000 for entering the country illegally and unspecified hostile acts.

NORTH KOREA has convicted two American journalists and sentenced them to 12 years of hard labour for crossing into its territory, intensifying the reclusive nation’s confrontation with the US.

North Korea has convicted two US journalists and sentenced them to 12 years in a labour camp.