WASHINGTON - TWO former judges in Pennsylvania have admitted to receiving more than US$2.6 million (S$3.9 million) in pay-offs from companies that run private prisons for sending them minors for detention or disciplinary camps.

The admissions, which were made by judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan in a plea agreement filed in federal court last week, has sparked protests by outraged parents and relatives of youths whose cases were handled by the judges.

LONDON - A DNA test will be performed to determine if a 13-year-old boy fathered a baby with his 15-year-old girlfriend, his spokesman said on Monday.

The test comes after a Sunday tabloid newspaper reported that other teenage boys have come forward claiming to be the father of the newborn baby girl.

CLARENCE (New York) - INVESTIGATORS on Monday scrutinized the pilot's actions in the final moments of Flight 3407 and tried to determine whether anything on the airplane broke mid-flight, while families of the victims visited the crash site for the first time.

After a seemingly routine flight, the airplane endured a 26-second plunge before smashing into a house in icy weather about 10km from the airport Thursday night, killing 49 people on the plane and one on the ground.