South Carolina ? South Carolina’s Supreme Court ordered Gov. Mark Sanford on Thursday to request $700 million in federal stimulus money aimed primarily at struggling schools, ending months of wrangling with legislators who accused him of playing politics with people’s lives.

The nation’s most vocal anti-bailout governor had refused to take the money designated for the state over the next two years, facing down protesters and legislators who passed a budget requiring him to. While other Republican governors had taken issue with requesting money from the $787 billion federal stimulus package, Sanford was the first to defend in court his desire to reject the money.

But he said Thursday he will not appeal the Supreme Court ruling and plans to sign paperwork to request the money Monday.

DUBLIN

Catholic orders pledge more aid for victims

Bowing to government pressure, 18 Roman Catholic religious orders that had abused thousands of Irish children pledged Thursday to allow external audits of their finances and to establish an entirely new compensation fund for victims.

The promise came after leaders of the orders held a three-hour meeting with Prime Minister Brian Cowen, who bluntly criticized their refusal to accept the magnitude of the harm they did to generations of children by chronically shielding abusers.

Later, the 18 groups said in a joint statement they would “make financial and other contributions toward a broad range of measures designed to alleviate the hurt caused to people who were abused in their care.”

The orders agreed to a government demand to accept, for the first time, an external audit to determine their net worth, a measurement that will be used to determine what more they can contribute. Victims’ advocates claim the orders have been using sophisticated financial shell games to hide their true net worth.