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In Los Angeles, a judge is expected to sign the largest settlement ever in a clergy sex-abuse case. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to pay $660 million to more than 500 people who say they were abused by priests and other clerics.

In L.A. Superior Court on Monday morning, attorneys for clergy sex-abuse victims and for the archdiocese presented a $660 million settlement. Attorneys and advocates for the victims are skeptical of the timing of the settlement as they believe it was timed to prevent the trial that was set to go ahead that day.

The Senate enters the second week of debate on a defense bill setting military policies and authorizing next year's Pentagon spending. Some senators are pushing to restore the legal protections of foreign detainees deemed to be "unlawful enemy combatants."

President Bush is threatening a veto if the Senate passes a Democratic plan that calls for the beginning of a drawdown of troops in Iraq within four months.

Dr. Anthony Cordesman, who holds the Arleigh Burke Chair in Strategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., examines efforts to sideline militias and bring Iraq under the control of the government in Baghdad.

New laws aim to change the power imbalance in rent court, where tenants with no lawyer are more likely to lose. But some cities have a shortage of attorneys or no set way to pair them with renters.

Confirmation hearings are scheduled Thursday for Dr. James Holsinger Jr., the Kentucky cardiologist nominated by President Bush to be the nation's 18th surgeon general. Holsinger is likely to face tough questioning — not only about his own qualifications, but about whether he can stand up to the political meddling that his predecessor, Richard Carmona, says hampered his ability to do the job.

In another day of scattered violence in Iraq, a suicide bomber breached tight security around a Baghdad hotel and blew himself up where Sunni sheiks allied with the U.S. in the fight against al-Qaida were meeting. At least 12 people were killed.

The international community is rallying behind Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as he faces off with the Islamic militant group Hamas. But he is also facing a key battle in his own party, over controlling Fatah's militant wing, the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades.

U.S. authorities say they are holding the highest-ranking Iraqi in the leadership of al-Qaida in Iraq. Khaled Abdul-Fattah Dawoud Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, also known as Abu Shahid, was captured July 4.