The Catholic Diocese of San Diego Friday announced an agreement to pay $198.1 million to settle 144 claims of sexual abuse by its clergy. In February, 42 clergy sex abuse cases were suspended – the night before they were scheduled to begin – after the diocese sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection . US Bankruptcy Judge [...]

Deborah D. Peterson et al. v. Islamic Republic of Iran, US District Court for the District of Columbia, Judge Royce Lamberth, September 7, 2007 . Read the full text of the memorandum opinion . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

CIA Director Michael Hayden defended the United States' secret overseas detention and interrogation policy Friday, saying that the program had obtained vital information about the terrorist threat against the US detailed in a July report . Hayden also said that fewer than 100 people total had been detained at secret overseas facilities since the 2002 [...]

A federal judge ruled Friday that Iran must compensate the families of 241 US military personnel killed in the 1983 bombing of the US Marine barracks in Beirut . Iran has been blamed for supporting Hezbollah , the militant group behind the bombing, but the country has denied responsibility. The holding awarded $2.65 billion – [...]

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani Friday objected to the planned execution of former Saddam-era Defense Minister Sultan Hashim Ahmad al-Tai , saying that al-Tai should receive clemency because he was only acting under the threat of death from Saddam and had worked with the the Kurdish community while he was an official in Saddam's regime. Talabani [...]

Poland will not join the European Charter of Fundamental Rights , instead opting for the same exemption clause that allowed the UK to reject the charter this summer, said Polish foreign minister Ana Fotyga Friday during a meeting on the EU's new Reform Treaty . Poland has objected to the draft charter for its supposed [...]

The government of Pakistan said Friday that it has reopened a corruption case against former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif , the same day that an anti-terrorism court ordered the arrest of his brother, Shahbaz Sharif, in connection with murder charges. Shahbaz Sharif is wanted for allegedly ordering police to kill five men while he [...]

The Supreme Court of Indonesia will not consider an appeal by three men convicted and sentenced to death in the 2002 bombings of two Bali nightclubs , a judge said Friday. Lawyers for Amrozi Ghufron , Ali Ghufron , and Imam Samudera had appealed on the grounds that the men were sentenced under a terror [...]

Muslim women will be allowed to wear traditional Muslim niqabs or burqas and not be required to show their faces to vote in Quebec by-elections this month, an Elections Canada spokesperson announced Thursday. The official said that women would not have to show their faces if they were able to sufficiently prove their identity with [...]

Assistant US Attorney General Peter D. Keisler announced his resignation as head of the US Department of Justice's Civil Division Thursday, effective September 21. During his tenure at the Justice Department, Keisler was responsible for managing litigation over the habeas corpus rights of Guantanamo Bay detainees . He also played a hand in the government's [...]