The 20-year-old who gained a popular following as the ’barefoot bandit’ pleaded not guilty today to all charges against him in a US federal court.

Two Muslim extremists wanted to kills thousands of innocent people in a massive explosion New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, a court heard today.

A US prosecutor warned that a powerful and sophisticated network of US-based Russian agents was eager to help defendants in an alleged spy ring flee the country on bail.

US prosecutors closed a two-year rape investigation involving magician David Copperfield today without filing any charges, and police said his accuser made a false sex assault claim against another man last month.

A young Nigerian man, wearing a white T-shirt and trainers, made his first public court appearance in Detroit tonight to face charges of trying to ignite a chemical-laden explosive on a US airliner on Christmas Day.

Disgraced financier Bernard Madoff’s long-time auditor is expected to plead guilty next week in a cooperation deal, US federal prosecutors told a judge today.

A former US soldier received five consecutive life sentences for his role in the rape and murder of an Iraqi teenager and the murder of three of her family members.

The personal doctor to a professional wrestler who killed himself, his wife and their seven-year-old son was sentenced to 10 years in prison today for illegally distributing prescription drugs to patients.

A US federal jury has convicted a former soldier of raping and fatally shooting a 14-year-old girl after killing her parents and younger sister while he was serving in Iraq.

A US prosecutor accused media mogul Conrad Black of systematically “fleecing” shareholders out of more than $60m (€44.7m) and creating an elaborate paper trail to cover his tracks.

A federal prosecutor ripped into media mogul Conrad Black and other Hollinger International executives today, saying “they systematically stole €44m” from the shareholders and created a phoney paper trail to cover their tracks.

Payments totalling $9.5m (€6.9m) that prosecutors say belonged to Hollinger International shareholders went instead to media mogul Conrad Black and four other executives, a company memo showed.

A former Olympic champion accused of abducting her own child must remain temporarily in the custody of US marshals, a judge said today.

A Romanian man has been indicted on charges of hacking into more than 150 US government computers, costing Nasa, the Energy Department and the Navy nearly $1.5m (€1.1m).

Federal investigators said today that they believe it is likely that would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid has “important information” about terrorist activities, and told a judge that they would like to question him, but do not believe he is entitled to a public defender now that his criminal case is over.

A federal grand jury has indicted a man on charges of offering to help al-Qaida blow up fuel facilities in at least three US states.

A woman whose bizarre behaviour aboard a London-to-Washington flight provoked a massive security scare will be held indefinitely at a residential mental health facility in New Hampshire, a federal judge ruled today.

A judge reviewing whether Lord Black misrepresented his assets while meeting bail conditions in his fraud and racketeering case demanded more information from a lawyer for the former publisher.

A British businessman accused of attempting to smuggle a shoulder-fired missile into the US was a “ready and willing player” in a terrorist plot, a government prosecutor said at the start of closing arguments.

In the end, it wasn’t a fingerprint or a blood spatter that led authorities to the woman suspected of strangling a mother-to-be and cutting the baby from her womb.

A former Nasa inspector has been accused of lying about inspecting crucial parts on the space shuttle Discovery before and after the Columbia disaster that killed seven astronauts and grounded the entire orbiter fleet.

Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega was denied early release from a Florida prison, despite a letter from a judge saying the 70-year-old former general had spent enough time behind bars.

The lawyer of a British man accused of flying to Minnesota to have sex with children argued in court today that evidence against him should be suppressed.

A man who posed as a member of the Saudi Arabian royal family to defraud four investors out of almost €10m has been jailed for eight years in the US.

A former Northern Ireland official snared in an underage sex sting has been given an extra 20 months in jail after judges ruled his original sentence was too lenient.

The mother of a Michigan policeman was today accused of robbing two banks in the state capital.

IMCLONE SYSTEMS founder Sam Waksal was sentenced to seven years and three months in prison yesterday for an insider-trading scandal that ensnared his family and threatens US home and style guru Martha Stewart and her home decorating empire.

A Utah man who killed his two young children by slitting their throats after he came home drunk from a dance has been convicted of first-degree murder.

A FABLED, 20-year-old FBI undercover operation resurfaced to shock the US underworld this week.

A US Forest Service ranger credited with reporting a fire that has blackened nearly 103,000 acres has been charged with starting the blaze.

Agents investigating a former top Northern Ireland civil servant facing child sex charges in Chicago have widened their inquiry to Florida and Britain, it was revealed today.

American Taliban suspect John Walker Lindh has been ordered to be held in custody pending trial on charges of conspiring to kill countrymen.

An Iranian who allegedly threatened to ‘‘kill all Americans’’ when he was caught smoking on an international flight was remanded in custody in Los Angeles after a prosecutor argued that his actions threatened thousands of lives.

Nearly $4m has been stolen from the US Postal Service depository in Phoenix in what investigators say was an inside job.

A US warrant has been issued for a Spaniard whose DNA matches samples found on British schoolgirl Caroline Dickinson.

The United States' Government's case against suspected spy Robert Hanssen is strong, a federal judge said as she ordered him to be remanded in custody.