■ United States
Salvadoran liable in murder
A US judge found a retired Salvadoran air force captain liable Friday in the 1980 slaying of a Salvadoran archbishop and ordered him to pay US$10 million in damages. Archbishop Oscar Romero was shot to death by a sniper as he performed Mass, and no one was ever held responsible for the slaying, which helped push El Salvador into a 12-year civil war. The unusual lawsuit was brought on behalf of one of Romero's relatives under a little-known law that allows foreign nationals with US connections to be sued for crimes like torture or genocide.
■ South Africa
Thatcher's son free on bail
Mark Thatcher paid two million rand (US$300,000) in bail on Friday to end a nine-day house arrest imposed after he was charged with bankrolling a coup plot in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea, a source close to him said. The 51-year-old millionaire businessman son of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher was charged on Aug. 25 and placed under house arrest in his upscale home in the Cape Town suburb of Constantia pending pay-ment of bail. Thatcher will now be able to walk out of his home although his movements are restricted to the Cape peninsula and he must report daily to the police.
■ United States
Terrorist charges dismissed
A judge dismissed terrorism charges against two men convicted last year, saying the prosecution's zeal to obtain a conviction in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks overcame its professional judgment. But US District Judge Gerald Rosen said the two, as well as a third man, must stand trial again on charges of document fraud. The judge's decision came after the Justice Depart-ment admitted widespread prosecutorial misconduct in the case and asked the judge to dismiss the terrorism charges against two men accused of being part of a Detroit terror cell.
■ United States
Jackson admits settlement
Michael Jackson, saying he must respond to ``untruths and sensationalism,'' acknowledged Friday that he has reached financial settlements with people in the past to avoid the public embarrassment of going to court. Jackson's statement was issued just hours before the scheduled broadcast of a television report alleging that the entertainer paid US$2 million to the son of an employee at his Neverland Ranch in 1990 to avoid a child molestation accusation. Jackson, 46, has denied ever harming any child and is currently fighting charges he molested a boy in 2003. His trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 31.
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