Magazine must pay dictator for defamation

? Indonesia’s highest court ordered Time magazine to pay $106 million in damages for defaming former dictator Suharto by alleging his family amassed billions of dollars during his 32-year rule, officials said Monday.

The May 1999 cover story in the magazine’s Asian edition said much of the money had been transferred from Switzerland to Austria before Suharto stepped down amid riots and pro-democracy protests in 1998.

Suharto, who has also been accused of widespread rights abuses, filed a lawsuit with the Central District Jakarta and later the Jakarta High Court, both of which ruled in Time’s favor.

A panel of three Supreme Court judges, including a retired general who rose in the military ranks during Suharto’s administration, overturned the decisions.