Boston: Archdiocese seeks protection under First Amendment

The Boston Archdiocese asked a judge Monday to dismiss the hundreds of sexual-abuse lawsuits against the church on freedom-of-religion grounds. But the archdiocese said it was still committed to reaching a settlement.

The archdiocese said it made the dismissal request to satisfy its insurers that it had employed all possible legal defenses. In court papers, the archdiocese argued that under the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of religion, civil law does not apply to how religious organizations supervise their personnel.

Washington, D.C.: Bush makes first pardons

President Bush pardoned seven Americans Monday for an array of mostly minor offenses, from a Mississippi man who tampered with a car odometer to a postal employee who stole $10.90 worth of mail.

They were the first pardons of his administration.

Bush also pardoned a Tennessee man sentenced in 1962 for making untaxed whiskey; an Oregon man convicted in 1966 in a grain-theft conspiracy; an Iowa man sentenced in 1989 for lying to the Social Security Administration; a Washington state man sentenced in 1972 for stealing $38,000 worth of copper wire; and a Wisconsin minister who refused to be inducted into the military, sentenced in 1957.

Bush maintained a longstanding tradition by announcing pardons near the holidays.

Afghanistan: Rockets fired near airport

Attackers fired rockets Monday at an eastern Afghan town, one day after authorities in the same area seized more than 150 rockets they said were destined for Taliban and al-Qaida fighters.

In the capital, Kabul, early indications pointed to mechanical failure as the cause of a weekend helicopter crash that killed seven German soldiers, a peacekeeping spokesman said. German government investigators studying the crash hauled away the last of the wreckage of the Sikorsky CH-53, hoping to find more clues.

The rocket attack near Jalalabad airport came close to an Afghan army garrison but did not cause any damage or injuries, police said.

Security forces seized 168 BM-12 rockets and an anti-tank mine there Sunday. The weapons were destined for Taliban and al-Qaida fugitives, officials said.