In the biggest settlement yet in the Catholic clergy child sex abuse scandal , the Kentucky Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington agreed on Friday to set up a $120 million fund to pay victims. A judge must approve the settlement, which would end a class-action lawsuit brought by more than 100 alleged victims who accuse [...]

Following up on a report Thursday in JURIST's Paper Chase, Serbian Minister for Human Rights Rasim Ljajic said Friday that Serbian TV's broadcast of a disturbing video of six Bosnian Muslim youths being slaughtered by Serb paramilitaries may change public opinion and lead to the arrest of the former commander of the Bosnian Serb Army, [...]

A Miami federal judge has ruled that Florida violated the terms of a 1991 agreement to reduce phosphorus levels in the Everglades. The US Supreme Court previously remanded the case after hearing an appeal . The decision by the 11th Circuit resulted from a lawsuit by the Miccosukee Indian tribe that claimed their reservation in [...]

Jurors in the trial of former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy told US District Court Judge Karon Bowdre in a note Friday that they were deadlocked with regard to all charges . Scrushy, who has been accused of mail and wire fraud as well as money laundering, is the first CEO to be charged under the [...]

Eight men appeared in a South African court Friday to face charges of breaking the country's anti-mercenary laws, enforced under the Foreign Military Assistance Act . The South African men were freed in May, along with 53 other suspected mercenaries, from a Zimbabwe jail where they served time for participating in an alleged coup attempt [...]

A Syrian man wanted in connection with the Madrid train bombings appeared in a British court on Friday as Spain requested his extradition to face charges. Moutaz Almallah Dabas was arrested in England last month, accused of running a safe house in Spain and recruiting terrorists. A decision on the extradition proceeding is expected June [...]

Army Brig. Gen. Jay Hood, senior military commander of the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, voiced frustration Thursday at press and rights group portrayals of abuse at the facility. Hood's comments follow a since-retracted Newsweek article describing mistreatment of the Koran and an Amnesty International report calling the prison camp the "gulag of our time." [...]

Jurors began deliberations Thursday in the retrial of former Tyco International Ltd. top executives L. Dennis Kozlowski and Mark Swartz. The first proceeding ended in a mistrial last April because of outside pressure on a juror . The two Tyco executives are charged with grand larceny and securities fraud in connection with large bonuses and [...]

Voters in Switzerland will decide in a referendum set for Sunday June 5 whether gay couples should have the right to register as partners and have legal rights similar to as married couples. A recent poll says 67 percent of Swiss voters want the measure approved. If passed, the new law would bring Switzerland in [...]

Republican insiders claim that the Bush administration is preparing to send dozens of new judicial nominations to the Senate for confirmation in an effort to test the bipartisan filibuster deal struck last week by moderates on both sides of the aisle. Under the deal Democrats have pledged not to filibuster nominations except in "extraordinary circumstances," [...]