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The Archdiocese of Boston agreed on Friday to turn over the names of people allegedly molested by priests and details of the incidents after being pressured by prosecutors.  The agreement, reached in the middle of the biggest child-molestation scandal to rock the nation’s Roman Catholic Church, moves prosecutors a step closer to bringing criminal charges, at least in cases where the statute of limitations has not run out.  In the past month prosecutors were given the names of about 80 priests suspected of abusing children over the past four decades

Secretary-General Kofi Annan, after being horrified by findings of widespread child sex abuse by aid workers in West Africa, vowed yesterday to quickly look into the matter and crack down hard on wrongdoers.  A UN team was in the region to check the findings, made public Tuesday, of the study by the UN High Commission on Refugees and Britain’s Save the Children.  The study of refugees in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone found that almost 70 aid workers from 40 agencies had been pushing refugee children into sex for food,

Manuel Batista, a 16 year old boy from Scotch Plains, pleaded guilty yesterday as an adult to aggravated sexual assault.  He admitted being part of a gang of five teenagers who sexually assault a 13 year old girl in a dry creek bed near a school last month.  Under a deal with prosecutors that requires him to testify against the other four charged in the case, he faces five years in prison and cannot become eligible for parole until he is 20.

(Elizabeth, New Jersey)

Peter Melzer, a former physics teacher who was fired for his outspoken advocacy of sex with kids, lost his bid to get his job back yesterday when a judge dismissed his federal lawsuit against the Board of Education.  Brooklyn federal Judge Frederic Block wrote that the board was right to can Melzer because of the likely disruption to the internal operations at Bronx High School of Science that his very public role in the North American Man-Boy Love Association would cause.  Melzer, who worked at the elite school for 37

Rev. D. George Spagnolia, a Roman Catholic priest in Massachusetts, was suspended because of alleged sexual contact with a child 31 years ago.  Spagnolia adamantly denies the claim and vows to fight for his job.  He said he was told by church officials that the allegation against him was made February 16 and allegedly took place 31 years ago when he worked at a church in Boston’s Roxbury section.

(Massachusetts)

A counselor at the Pleasantville Cottage School, a school for troubled teens, was attacked by girls who set her face on fire and poured bleach on her burns, put barrettes in her hair and told her she would look good in a coffin.  Eight suspects, including one still at large, were indicted on charges of attempted murder, assault and gang assault.  All were charged as adults and will be tried in adult court, although the six who are under 16 will face lesser penalties if convicted.  

In another incident,