Five men were convicted of plotting to join forces with al-Qaida to destroy Chicago’s Sears Tower and bomb FBI offices in hopes of igniting an anti-government insurrection.

Seven men who plotted to destroy America’s tallest building Chicago’s Sears Tower, hoping to start a revolution which would pave the way for an Islamic regime, went on trial today.

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.