A federal bankruptcy judge ruled on Wednesday that several civil lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon alleging sexual abuse by priests should go to trial. The archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in 2004 on the day that a suit asking for over $100 million in damages was scheduled to go to trial. The filing [...]

AP is reporting that Jose Padilla has pleaded not guilty in federal district court to 11 charges, including conspiracy to murder US nationals and providing material support to terrorists. Padilla was detained over three years ago on suspicion of planning to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" in the US but was indicted on the 11 [...]

Detroit Catholic Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, 75, became the first US Catholic bishop to publicly admit he was sexually abused by a priest after he met with Ohio lawmakers Wednesday in support of a state bill proposing the extension of time limits for victims to sue the church. Gumbleton said he had been abused by [...]

The US Department of Justice has indicated it may file a lawsuit against New York state for failing to modernize its voting procedures in accordance with the Help America Vote Act of 2002 . The state Board of Elections has received over $220 million in federal money to upgrade voting machines, train election workers, and [...]

An attempt by a special prosecutor to try former Mexican president Luis Echeverria on genocide charges for the massacre of hundreds of students during a 1968 demonstration was rejected by Wednesday by the Mexican Supreme Court . The high court refused to hear an appeal from a judge's decision not to issue an arrest warrant [...]

US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton and representatives from other UN member countries resumed negotiations Wednesday on the creation of a new UN rights watchdog to replace the Human Rights Commission . At the closed door meeting, Bolton presented several proposals and cautioned that allowing countries who commit human rights abuses to serve on [...]

Transcript of Day 3 of confirmation hearings for Judge Samuel Alito, Jr., nominated to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, US Senate Judiciary Committee, January 11, 2006. Read the full text transcript as provided to AP by CQ Transcriptions, LLC .

Electoral results released by the Independent Electoral Commission in the Democratic Republic of Congo Wednesday certify the landslide approval of the new Congolese constitution . In December, 84 percent of the approximately 15 million voters who cast their ballots voted to grant greater autonomy to mineral-rich provinces, lower the minimum age to become president from [...]

Mehmet Ali Agca , a Turkish man who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981, was released from a Turkish prison Thursday to cheers from a crowd of nationalist supporters. After serving 20 years in an Italian jail, Agca was extradited to Turkey to serve five additional years in prison for the previous murder of [...]

Lawyers for Guantanamo Bay detainee and Canadian citizen Omar Khadr on Wednesday asked the judge presiding over Khadr's military trial to delay proceedings so that Khadr could secure counsel with more trial experience. Khadr, 19, faces charges of conspiracy, murder and attempted murder stemming from a 2002 firefight in Afghanistan outside an al Qaeda compound, [...]