Philippines: U.S. troops end exercises

Nearly 6,000 U.S. and Philippine troops ended three weeks of training Monday aimed at strengthening the countries’ military relationships amid the U.S.-led war on terror.

The training mission on the Philippines’ main island of Luzon combined 2,700 American troops and 2,900 Philippine soldiers.

The U.S. soldiers, many based in Japan, will leave the country in coming days after weeks of training, which included living off the land.

About 1,000 U.S. troops are still in the southern region of Mindanao to train Filipinos in battling rebels.

For nearly a year, the Abu Sayyaf, which has been linked to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network, has been holding Wichita, Kan., missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham and Filipino nurse Ediborah Yap hostage on the southern island of Basilan.

Boston: Cardinal’s deposition ordered

A judge Monday ordered Cardinal Bernard Law to give a deposition on Wednesday in the civil litigation against John Geoghan, the now-defrocked priest accused of molesting scores of youngsters.

Superior Court Judge Constance Sweeney expressed concern that Law might not be available to answer questions under oath unless the deposition were soon.

“His choice of whether he is available for deposition is not entirely belonging to him,” she said. “If the pope tells him to go to Rome, he goes.”

Sweeney ordered the deposition videotaped in a closed courtroom so it could stand as testimony if Law is not available for a trial. At that time, the tape could be made public. Otherwise, she ordered the deposition to remain confidential.

In another development, the archdiocese said Sunday it was contemplating mortgaging or even selling its headquarters to pay the rising toll of its priest abuse scandal.

Boston: Accused retired priest extradited to face charges

A retired priest was returned Monday to Massachusetts to face criminal charges he repeatedly raped a boy in his parish in the 1980s.

After arriving at Boston’s Logan Airport, the Rev. Paul Shanley, wearing a bulletproof vest, was taken to the Newton Police Department. The 71-year-old priest was to be arraigned today on three counts of raping a child.

Shanley was arrested last week in San Diego, where he had lived since his retirement in 1993, and waived his right to fight extradition. He has been publicly silent since the allegations surfaced.

Prosecutors in Middlesex County have accused him of raping the boy between 1983 and 1990 in St. Jean Parish in Newton, where Shanley served until the church transferred him to California.

Documents from Shanley’s personnel files detailed his advocacy of sex between men and boys, as well as his transfer to several parishes by the Archdiocese of Boston despite allegations of abuse.