[JURIST] Two days of court-ordered mediation have resulted in a $16.65 million settlement between the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee [official website] and 10 people who alleged they were sexually abused by a priest whom the diocese transferred to California, the archdiocese announced Friday [press release]. Insurance will cover about half of the settlement. The archdiocese allegedly transferred Siegfried Widera to California in 1981 despite knowledge of sexual abuse. Widera was facing more than 40 counts of child molestation in Wisconsin and California when he committed suicide in 2003.

The California Legislature opened courts to hundreds of otherwise time-barred lawsuits by passing a law [SNAP backgrounder] in 2002 that lifted the statute of limitations on claims of clergy sex abuse [JURIST news archive] for one year. The Wisconsin Court of Appeals ruled [opinion text] on Tuesday that claims involving Widera were barred by Wisconsin's statute of limitations. AP has more. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has local coverage.

[JURIST] The government of Croatia [JURIST news archive] has asked the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website; JURIST news archive] for amicus curiae status under Rule 74 [text] of the ICTY Rules of Procedure and Evidence in the war crimes trials of three former Croatian generals and six former Bosnian Croat officials [JURIST report], state radio in Croatia [media website, in Croatian] reported Friday. Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader [official website; Wikipedia profile] said the government is seeking friend-of-the-court status to refute the indictments' "unacceptable allegations" about the military's activities in the 1995 offensive known as Operation Storm [Wikipedia backgrounder], which forced some 90,000 other Serbs from their homes.

The indictment [PDF text] against the six former officials relates to allegations that they organized an ethnic cleansing campaign against Bosnian Muslims in an effort to create a separate state [Wikipedia backgrounder] with assistance from Croatian forces, but Croatia has denied that its troops operated in Bosnia. In other indictments, including that of retired Croatian General Ante Gotovina [ICTY case backgrounder; JURIST report], Operation Storm is characterized as a "joint criminal enterprise," but Croatia contends it had a right to reclaim land captured by Serbs after Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The US Department of Education [official website] gave personal data about several hundred student loan applicants to the FBI [official website; JURIST news archive] as part of an anti-terrorism program called Project Strikeback, the New York Times reported Friday. Under the program, which began after the September 11 attacks, the Education Department checked names sent by the FBI against the 14 million records in its student aid database. Matching records, which may have included addresses, Social Security numbers and income figures, were then forwarded to the FBI. Assistant FBI Director John Miller [official profile] defended the program, saying that it was narrowly targeted and that terrorists have taken advantage of student aid programs through identity theft. Although she said no cases of fraud were uncovered by the program, an Education Department spokeswoman said the Privacy Act of 1974 [text] allows agencies to share certain information "for a civil or criminal law enforcement activity." Project Strikeback was mentioned in a 2004 Government Accountability Office report [text, PDF] on data mining [Wikipedia backgrounder], but little was publicly known about it until the program was investigated by a Northwestern University journalism student.

The Education Department's Commission on the Future of Higher Education [official website] is evaluating a proposal for a national student database intended to help hold colleges accountable for student performance. The National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities has "serious concerns" about such a database [NAICU materials], which it believes would lead to more sharing of personal data among government agencies. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] The regional chief executive of Newmont Mining Corporation [corporate website], an American gold-mining company with a subsidiary in Indonesia, testified Friday in his criminal pollution trial. Richard Ness [defense website], who is accused of placing arsenic and mercury into the waters of Indonesia's Buyat Bay, told the court that the "waste rock" Newmont dumped into the Bay did not exceed government-imposed limits and insisted that Newmont carefully tracked the level of pollutants the mine released. Indonesia began the criminal pollution trial [JURIST report] in August 2005, and a verdict is expected later this year.

Earlier this year, Newmont settled a civil suit [JURIST report] brought by Indonesia for $30 million shortly after Indonesia decided it would not appeal the ruling that dismissed [JURIST report] the $133 million suit [JURIST report] brought against Newmont alleging that the company polluted the area near its operation. AP has more.

[JURIST] A Peruvian judge [Peru judiciary website, in Spanish] on Thursday indicted [press release, in Spanish] Ollanta Humala [COHA profile; BBC report], the opposition leader who narrowly lost the June Peruvian presidential election [BBC report] to present incumbent Alan Garcia [official website, in Spanish], for murder, torture and kidnapping stemming from his position as an army captain in Peru's San Martin province during the 1990s. Earlier this month, prosecutors filed informal charges [JURIST report] against Humala and sent the case to judge Miluska Cano to decide whether prosecutors presented enough evidence to open a criminal case. Prosecutors charged Humala on the basis of testimony from witnesses that claim soldiers under Humala's command dragged a married couple from their home in 1992, and later found the husband shot in the head but never found the body of the wife.

Humala, who is popular among poor Peruvians, was dismissed from army service in 2000 after spearheading a nonviolent military uprising against then-President Alberto Fujimori [personal website; JURIST news archive]. Though Humala admits to commanding a counter-insurgency base and operating under the pseudonym "Captain Carlos," he denies involvement in the murders. AP has more.

[JURIST] A tough amendment to Russia's copyright protection law [US DOS backgrounder] designed to crack down on the Internet piracy of text, music and videos took effect Friday as part of Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organization [official website]. The Russian parliament originally approved the amendment to Russia's existing copyright protection law [text, English translation] in July 2004; it granted website operators that distribute copyright protected content two years to acquire licenses to distribute their MP3 files.

The United States has cited notoriously lax protections for intellectual property as the major reason for refusing to endorse Russia's entry into the WTO, though the Russian business daily Kommersant claims that 97 percent of music files exchanged online are legal. The new law threatens to sentence violators to up to five years in jail. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Several voting rights groups filed a federal lawsuit in the Southern District of Ohio [official website] Thursday demanding that Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell [official website] preserve the paper ballots from the 2004 presidential election [JURIST archive], just two days before federal law allows states to destroy the ballots. The voting rights groups, including the Ohio Voter Rights Alliance for Democracy, argue that over 153,000 votes in Ohio were not counted in the presidential election because of flawed punch card ballots that mistakenly punched two names on the ballot, and also claim that new evidence indicates the punch card ballots were tampered with. Blackwell has not indicated whether he will instruct county Boards of Election to preserve the ballots, though several counties have said they will voluntarily preserve the voting records in light of the lawsuit.

New York researcher Richard Hayes Phillips [report] discovered the alleged election fraud by photographing several Ohio ballots, in which several ballots cast in favor of Massachusetts Senator John Kerry also marked other independent presidential candidates on the ballot, including candidates not eligible for the election like Ralph Nader. President Bush won the state by just 118,000 votes. Phillips believes that the flawed ballots were systematically tampered with throughout the state, citing a pattern of extra punches in every fifth election precinct. The Cincinnati Enquirer has more.

[JURIST] An attorney for US Army Sgt. Ricky Clousing [advocacy website], an Iraq war veteran, said Thursday that his client will face a desertion charge at a special court-martial stemming from his June 2005 defection from Fort Bragg [official website]. Clousing, who has said he refuses to participate in a war with "no legal basis to be fought," could face up to six months confinement, forfeiture or reduction of salary, and a bad-conduct discharge if convicted of desertion. Clousing eventually turned himself in [JURIST report] at Fort Lewis [official website] August 11.

In related news, another soldier, US Army Spc. Mark Wilkerson, reappeared and turned himself in to authorities Thursday at Fort Hood [official website] after absconding from military service a year and a half ago just prior to his second scheduled deployment to Iraq. Wilkerson was joined by anti-war protestors, including Cindy Sheehan [Wikipedia profile]. Wilkerson's application for conscientious objector status [Selective Service backgrounder] after his first tour in Iraq was denied. AP has more.

[JURIST] New Orleans Parish criminal court [official website] Judge Arthur Hunter Thursday deferred a threatened [JURIST report] review of prisoner records in anticipation of release which he earlier said he would begin [JURIST report] on the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina [JURIST news archive] Tuesday. Instead, Hunter said that New Orleans District Attorney Eddie Jordan [Wikipedia profile] must sort through the backlog of an estimated 6,000 pending cases and dismiss those for which there is not sufficient evidence. In response, Jordan said there are far fewer criminal cases waiting to be prosecuted than previously thought - 3,052 in total.

The New Orleans court system has been overburdened [JURIST report] since Hurricane Katrina, leading to the imprisonment of many suspects without access to attorneys, court dates, public defenders, and formal charges, all of which impose constitutional concerns. Many New Orleans courtrooms have not yet reopened, limiting court dates to every other week with a maximum of six cases heard by a judge per day. AP has more.

ALSO ON JURIST  Topic: Hurricane Katrina | Op-ed: Katrina and Social Vulnerability: Disaster is Not Natural

[JURIST] California's State Assembly [official website] passed the nation's first bill to restrict greenhouse gas [EPA backgrounder] emissions Thursday, by a vote of 46-31. The Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 [text] grants new authority to the California Air Resources Board [official website] to set specific emission targets for various industries and set fees to raise money for new emission reduction initiatives. The state's largest polluters, such as power plants and cement manufacturers, will be required to report their emissions.

The Air Resources Board is an 11-member body, appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate. Members [board member profiles] must include five members from the state's regional air boards; one with automotive or engineering expertise; one with a background in science, agriculture or law; one in the medical profession; one with expertise in air pollution; and two members from the general public.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger [official website; JURIST news archive] has promised to sign the bill [press release], saying the measure "strengthens our economy, cleans our environment and once again, establishes California as the leader in environmental protection." Although other states have considered similar measures [JURIST report], California's goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent before 2020 is the first successful effort by a US state to pass a bill aimed at curbing global warming. The San Francisco Chronicle has local coverage.

[JURIST] The UN Security Council [official website] passed a resolution [text] Thursday authorizing the deployment of UN peacekeeping troops to the Darfur region of Sudan [JURIST news archive] under the authority of the current UN Mission in the Sudan (UNMIS) [UN backgrounder]. The new peacekeeping force will replace the current African Union [official website] force whose mandate is set to expire [JURIST report] September 30. The resolution can not take effect, however, until the Sudanese government consents to the presence of the UN peacekeepers. Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir [BBC profile] repeatedly expressed opposition to UN-led peacekeeping forces [JURIST report] before the May 5 Darfur peace agreement [US Sudan Embassy briefing]. Despite more recent indications that Sudan would consent to the deployment of a UN force, Sudan's official news agency reported that Al-Bashir has rejected the UN resolution.

The United States and Great Britain sponsored the resolution that passed by a vote of 12-0 with three abstentions. The Security Council will hold a meeting next Friday with members of the African Union and Sudanese government, as well as the Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Conference, in an attempt to gain Sudan's support for the UN peacekeeping effort. AP has more.