Missionaries’ lawyer arrested

Missionaries’ lawyer arrested

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic

A fugitive who once acted as the lawyer for a group of U.S. Baptist missionaries accused of kidnapping 33 Haitian children was arrested on human-trafficking charges, authorities said Friday.

Jorge Puello, 32, was detained at the United States’ request as he left a McDonald’s restaurant late Thursday in the Dominican capital, Santo Domingo, said National Drug Control Agency spokesman Roberto Lebron.

Puello is wanted in Vermont and in Canada for smuggling illegal immigrants, and in Philadelphia for probation violations related to fraud charges, said a statement from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

He is wanted in El Salvador for crimes against children; sexual exploitation of minors for pornography and prostitution; organized crime; and human trafficking, ICE said. Interpol issued an arrest warrant for Puello at El Salvador’s request.

Puello has denied all of the allegations.

Malcolm X killer granted release

ALBANY, N.Y.

One of three men convicted of killing Malcolm X 45 years ago has been granted release from weekends in prison in his 17th appearance before a state parole board.

The State Division of Parole says 69-year-old Thomas Hagan appeared before a parole panel March 3 and was granted release effective April 28.

Until then, he’ll remain at the Lincoln Correctional Facility in New York City, where he has been locked up two days a week for 22 years.

Hagan was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison in April 1966 for shooting the civil-rights leader at the Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan. Two other convicted gunmen were previously paroled.

Judge rejects deal for Sept. 11 illnesses

NEW YORK

A federal judge on Friday rejected a legal settlement of more than a half-billion dollars for people sickened by ash and dust from the World Trade Center, saying the deal to compensate 10,000 police officers, firefighters and other laborers didn’t contain enough money for the workers.

The settlement proposal would have given the workers $575 million to $657 million, but each person’s amount was based on a complicated point system that would give some workers only a few thousand dollars while others might qualify for $1 million or more.

Catholics awaiting letter on abuse

DUBLIN

Pope Benedict XVI addresses Ireland today in a letter apologizing for the sex-abuse scandal here — a message being watched closely by Catholics from Boston to Berlin to see if it also acknowledges decades of Vatican-approved cover-ups.

Victims’-rights activists say that to begin mending the church’s battered image, Benedict’s message — his first pastoral letter on child abuse in the church — must break his silence on the role of the Catholic hierarchy in shielding pedophile clergy from prosecution.

Casey Anthony can use public money

ORLANDO, Fla.

A judge has ruled that Casey Anthony is indigent and can use public money to pay for part of her defense against charges that she killed her 2-year-old daughter.

Circuit Judge Stan Strickland issued the ruling Friday, a day after her attorney disclosed that ABC had paid the Florida mother and her relatives $200,000 for exclusive use of family photos and videos.

Associated Press