WASHINGTON - Gun-related homicides and other crimes involving guns have fallen sharply over the last two decades in the United States, but most Americans believe firearms crime is higher now than 20 years ago, according to an analysis and a separate poll released on Tuesday.
    
 Some 11,101 gun-related homicides were reported in the United States in […]

DENVER - Police in the U.S. state of Colorado say 12 people were shot to death and 59 wounded in a shooting at a movie theater in a suburb of Denver.
Authorities say the midnight premiere of “The Dark Knight Rises,” the latest Batman movie, had just begun at the Century 16 theater in the city […]

WASHINGTON - A U.S. federal judge has declared a mistrial in the case of former senator and one-time Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards who was charged with misusing a million dollar campaign fund to hide his affair with a mistress.
The judge in Greensboro, North Carolina made his decision after the jury found Edwards not guilty […]

WASHINGTON  - Five suspects accused of masterminding the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks against the United States have been arraigned on nearly 3,000 counts of murder and other terrorism-related charges.  The five ignored the judge and refused to cooperate with the proceedings. 
September 11th, 2001 is a painful memory re-lived here by the families of some […]

LOS ANGELES - California prison officials have again denied parole for notorious mass murderer Charles Manson, possibly for the last time.
 
The 77-year-old Manson again did not attend his parole hearing Wednesday at Corcoran State Prison north of Los Angeles.
The parole board ruled that Manson is still a danger to society.
 
Manson will not be eligible for […]

WASHINGTON - The Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a U.S. passenger plane on Christmas Day 2009 has been sentenced to life in prison.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was sentenced Thursday in the U.S. city of Detroit.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder called Abdulmutallab a “remorseless terrorist” who deserved to spend “every day of the rest […]

WASHINGTON - A Dutch man suspected in the disappearance of an American woman in Aruba has pleaded guilty to the killing of a woman in Peru.
Twenty-four-year-old Joran Van der Sloot admitted to a court Wednesday that he killed college student Stephany Flores in 2010.
Van der Sloot told a panel of three judges that he was […]

WASHINGTON - A U.S. judge has postponed the sentencing of a Nigerian man known as the “underwear bomber,” who botched an attempt to blow up a U.S.-bound airliner.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab faces a life sentence after pleading guilty last October to terrorism charges.
On Friday, the judge delayed Abdulmutallab’s sentencing to February 16 to give the 25-year-old […]

WASHINGTON - A Peruvian judge has postponed the trial of a Dutch citizen, who has taken responsibility for a woman’s death, but asked for time to decide how to plead.
The judge granted Joran van der Sloot’s request as his trial got under way Friday in Lima.
His lawyer says he admits to killing 21-year-old college student […]

PARIS - A French court has sentenced a Venezuelan militant to life in prison for a series of deadly bomb attacks in France nearly 30 years ago.
Late Thursday, a court in Paris convicted “Carlos the Jackal”, on four separate bombings that killed eleven people and wounded nearly 150 others.
The judge said the 62-year old, whose […]

PARIS - Former French President Jacques Chirac has been convicted of corruption.
A judge found Chirac guilty of embezzling public funds Thursday but suspended his two-year sentence in the landmark case.
He was the first former French head of state to face prosecution in more than 15 years.
The 79-year former president, who was not at the trial […]

WASHINGTON - A federal judge in Washington has begun hearings to consider whether the man who shot U.S. President Ronald Reagan can be allowed more time away from a Washington mental hospital and eventually released.
 
John Hinckley was found to be insane at his 1982 trial for the attempted assassination of President Reagan a year earlier. […]

LOS ANGELES - A judge has sentenced Michael Jackson’s personal physician to four years in prison for the 2009 death of the pop superstar.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor Tuesday handed the sentence to Dr. Conrad Murray, who was convicted earlier this month of involuntary manslaughter in Jackson’s death.  Murray, however, could serve only […]

WASHINGTON - New York City police announced Sunday that they have arrested a man for allegedly plotting to bomb city facilities and U.S. military personnel. 
At a press conference, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the arrest of 27-year-old Jose Pimentel, who is accused of planning to bomb police cars, post offices and members of […]

WASHINGTON - A 21-year-old man accused of firing shots at the White House last week has been charged with attempting to assassinate U.S. President Barack Obama or his staff.
Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez made his first federal court appearance Thursday in the eastern state of Pennsylvania. He was detained in a hotel in the state just one […]

LOS ANGELES - A jury in California has convicted Dr. Conrad Murray of involuntary manslaughter in the June 2009 death of pop singer Michael Jackson.
The 12-member jury reached the guilty verdict Monday after less than two days of deliberations.  The trial lasted several weeks, with nearly 50 witnesses being called to the stand.  Hundreds of […]

NEW YORK - Police in New York City have arrested several Occupy Wall Street protesters who were marching down the streets of the financial district.
 
The march and arrests came after the protesters learned early Friday that they would be allowed to stay in the park where they are camped, instead of having to clear out […]

DETROIT - The trial of a Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a U.S. airliner with a bomb hidden in his underwear begins with opening statements in a U.S. court on Tuesday.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is representing himself in the trial in the U.S. city of Detroit, but he agreed to allow a court-appointed […]

ROME - American college student Amanda Knox boarded an airplane in Italy a free woman Tuesday. She is now enroute to the United States, after a jury in Italy overturned her murder conviction.
Knox collapsed in tears while the courtroom erupted Monday evening, when the court decision was read. Her former Italian boyfriend and co-defendant, Raffaele […]

LOS ANGELES - The attorney for the doctor charged in connection with the June 2009 death of U.S. pop star Michael Jackson says the singer’s own actions led to his death.
Doctor Conrad Murray is charged with involuntary manslaughter for giving Jackson the powerful anesthetic propofol and then failing to properly monitor the singer’s health.  But […]

SEATTLE - A woman in the United States is claiming that her uncle carried out the brazen hijacking of an airplane 40 years ago and escaped with $200,000 in the only unsolved skyjacking in American history.
Marla Cooper told the ABC News TV network that she is convinced the 1971 hijacking was carried out by her […]

AMSTERDAM - Serbian authorities have arrested the last remaining fugitive wanted by the UN War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague. Goran Hadzic is charged with 14 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes for his leading role in the ethnic cleansing of Croats and other non-Serbs from parts of Croatia in the early years […]

WASHINGTON - The commander of the Fort Hood military post says the U.S. Army psychiatrist charged with killing 13 people in a 2009 shooting at the base will be tried in a military court and face the death penalty.
Major Nidal Hasan is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated […]

ORLANDO - A jury in the southern U.S. state of Florida has found a 25-year-old woman not guilty of killing her 2-year-old daughter, in one of the most sensational murder cases in recent U.S. history.
The jury Tuesday found Casey Anthony not guilty of first degree murder, child abuse and aggravated assault of a child in […]