A round-up of today's other stories in brief...
German church plan for abuse compensation
BERLIN – The Catholic Church in Germany has advanced a plan to compensate victims of sexual abuse by its priests, offering payments of up to €5,000 to those whose cases are too old to bring to court.
It announced the scheme at a meeting of a government-appointed panel yesterday.
Higher compensation would be awarded in “particularly serious cases”, it said. – (Reuters)
Gingrich ponders US presidential bid
ATLANTA – Former US House of Representatives speaker Newt Gingrich has said he will explore a 2012 presidential run in the weeks ahead as he edged closer to a formal Republican candidacy.
“We will look at this very seriously and very methodically and lay out a framework for what we will do next,” Mr Gingrich told reporters at a brief news conference yesterday. – (Reuters)
Somali-bound duo face life sentence
NEWARK – Two New Jersey men pleaded guilty yesterday to conspiring to commit murder outside the United States after they were arrested trying to travel to Somalia.
Mohamed Mahmood Alessa (21) and Carlos Eduardo Almonte (24) appeared at Newark federal court and face life in prison after agreeing to a plea deal. – (Reuters)