US paper pays out £1.7m libel award to judge

The Boston Herald has paid a judge $3.4m (£1.7m) after the state's highest court refused to reconsider its decision to uphold a libel verdict against the newspaper. Judge Ernest Murphy claimed in his libel suit that the Herald had depicted him as soft on crime and insensitive to the suffering of a 14-year-old rape victim in a series of articles published in 2002. A jury found in the judge's favour and the supreme judicial court later upheld the verdict. The paper asked the high court to reconsider, but it refused. (Via First Amendment Centre/ AP)