Three men have been charged in the US over a Cold War-style Russian spy ring that spoke in code, passed information hidden in bags and magazines, and tried to recruit people with ties to an unnamed New York City university.

The US Supreme Court is to decide whether same-sex couples have a right to marry under the country’s constitution, setting up a potentially historic ruling on one of America’s most sweeping social issues.

Senior US officials found to have sanctioned the use of torture by the CIA should face the “gravest penalties”, the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism said.

Civil rights leaders have condemned the decision not to charge a white New York City police officer over the chokehold death of a black man and are planning a march and a summit on racial justice in Washington.

The mobile phone video of the last moments of Eric Garner’s life showed a white police officer holding the unarmed black man in a chokehold as he repeatedly gasped, “I can’t breathe.”

Protests have erupted across New York and in US cities from Georgia to California after a white police officer was cleared over the chokehold death of an unarmed black man.

US attorney general Eric Holder met the officer in charge of security in the Missouri suburb of Ferguson yesterday hours after nearly 50 protesters were arrested in the 11th straight night of demonstrations over the killing of an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer.

Residents of Ferguson were urged to stay home after dark, after days of clashes with police following the shooting of an unarmed black 18-year-old.

US police officers in St Louis shot and killed a 23-year-old man who they say was wielding a knife and refused to drop it. 

America’s attorney general has ordered a new post-mortem examination on a black teenager whose shooting by a white police officer sparked protests in Missouri.

The police chief in the St Louis suburb where an officer fatally shot an unarmed teenager has identified the officer as Darren Wilson.

France’s largest bank has agreed to pay nearly $9bn (€6.5bn) to resolve criminal allegations that it processed transactions for clients in Sudan and other blacklisted countries in violation of US trade sanctions, the Justice Department says.

Villagers in an area of Nigeria where Boko Haram operates have killed and detained scores of extremist Islamic militants suspected of planning a fresh attack.

Villagers in an area of Nigeria where Boko Haram operates have killed and detained scores of the Islamic militants who were suspected of planning a fresh attack, residents and a security official said.

Malaysian investigators — with the help of the FBI — are trying to restore files deleted last month from the home flight simulator of the pilot aboard the missing Malaysia Airlines plane to see if they shed any light on the disappearance.

The US government has announced a 1.2 billion US dollar settlement with Toyota and filed a criminal charge alleging the company defrauded consumers by issuing misleading statements about safety issues.

Edward Snowden was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Norwegian politicians, including a former government minister, for contributing to transparency and global stability by exposing a US surveillance programme.

President Barack Obama trimmed the powers of the secretive US eavesdropping agency by calling for new privacy safeguards, but allowed bulk phone data sweeps to continue as an anti-terror tool.

American Airlines and US Airways have reached a deal with the US government that lets the two form the world’s biggest airline and opens up more room at key US airports for low-cost carriers.

In one of the largest healthcare fraud settlements in US history, Johnson & Johnson will pay $2.2 billion (€1.6bn) to end civil and criminal investigations into kickbacks to pharmacists and the marketing of pharmaceuticals for off-label uses, US attorney general Eric Holder has said.

JP Morgan Chase & Co has reached a $13bn (€9.5bn) deal with the US Justice Department and other government agencies to settle investigations into bad mortgage loans the bank sold to investors before the financial crisis.

Few things would be as surprising as the sight of JPMorgan (JPM) Chase & Co pleading guilty in a criminal case. Yet this could be a real possibility, if we are to believe recent news reports about the bank’s settlement negotiations with the Justice Department.

The US Justice Department is to sue the state of North Carolina for alleged racial discrimination over tough new voting rules.

The 28-year-old Irishman described by the FBI as “the largest facilitator of child porn on the planet” is to make a new application for bail on Sep 11.

Looking for positive lessons to draw from the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, US president Barack Obama said today the nation needs to do some “soul-searching”.

The father of US NSA secrets leaker Edward Snowden has acknowledged that his son broke the law but does not think he committed treason.

Boston Marathon suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev downloaded bomb-making instructions from an al-Qaida magazine, legal documents revealed.

The US Supreme Court has ruled in favour of gay marriage supporters in two crucial cases, saying same-sex couples should get the same federal benefits as heterosexuals and clearing the way for the resumption of same-sex marriages in California.

Ecuador’s government is considering an asylum request from Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor wanted for revealing secrets.

The US National Security Agency can keep copies of intercepted communications from or about US citizens if the material contains significant intelligence or evidence of crimes, according to top-secret documents.

European leaders have told the US government that the rights of EU citizens subjected to surveillance were “not negotiable”.

The Attorney general of the United States has warned the whistleblower who leaked details on the country’s internet spying tactics that he will be caught.

The former CIA employee who leaked top-secret information about US surveillance programmes said in an interview in Hong Kong he is not attempting to hide from justice but hopes to use the city as a base to reveal wrongdoing.

Americans are fickle in their attitude about domestic surveillance, finds Michael Moynihan

The Guardian newspaper in London says a 29-year-old American who works as a contractor at the National Security Agency (NSA) is its source of leaks about the US government’s surveillance programmes.

US President Barack Obama called Boston mayor Tom Menino and Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick to offer federal assistance in responding to explosions that rocked the end of the Boston Marathon.

The three major US credit bureaus say hackers who have posted credit reports on celebrities and government officials in recent days did not breach secure databases but relied on personal information they collected elsewhere on the public figures.

US first lady Michelle Obama and vice president Joe Biden are among the latest public figures to have their private information posted on a mysterious website.

Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law has pleaded not guilty to plotting against Americans in his role as al Qaida’s leading spokesman as a landmark case trying a terror suspect on US soil moves forward.

A Limerick businessman has met with US officials to discuss rolling out gun technology which could prevent mass shootings and make America a safer country.

Prominent gun rights advocates in the US government are now calling for a national discussion about curbing gun violence - signalling that the Connecticut primary school massacre could be a tipping point in a debate dormant for years.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney issued a sweeping indictment yesterday of President Barack Obama’s conduct of foreign policy, including a charge that the White House sought political gain by leaking classified details of the military raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

US president Barack Obama has denied reports that the White House deliberately leaked classified national security information flattering to him in this election year, calling the allegations “offensive” and “wrong”.

The man who called himself the “mastermind” of the September 11 attacks, and four comrades, are back before a military judge in Guantanamo Bay to face charges that could lead to their execution.