A central Minnesota woman ordered to pay $1.92 million for illegally sharing copyright-protected music is asking a federal judge to reduce the damages she must pay or grant a new trial, while the recording industry is taking steps to make sure she doesn't share music again.

Last month, a federal jury ruled Jammie Thomas-Rasset, 32, willfully violated the copyrights on 24 songs, and that she must pay $80,000 per song. In documents filed Monday in U.S. District Court, attorney Kiwi Camara argued this amount is "grossly excessive."

Camara asked that the court either remove the statutory damages from the judgment, order that the damages be reduced to the statutory minimum — which would result in a total award of $18,000 — or grant a new trial altogether.

"The plaintiffs did not even attempt to offer evidence of their actual injuries, seeking, instead, an award of statutory damages entirely for purposes of punishment and deterrence," Camara wrote, adding that the $1.92 million figure "shocks the conscience and must be set aside."

He also wrote that civil penalties must relate to a defendant's own conduct and the injury she caused to the plaintiffs. Instead, he said, it seems the damages were awarded not because what Thomas-Rasset did, but because of "the widespread and generalized problem of illegal music downloading."

Camara wrote that if a new trial isn't ordered, Thomas-Rasset would appeal based on evidence he argued should not have been allowed at trial.

This case was the only one of more than 30,000 similar lawsuits to make it all the way to trial. The vast majority of people targeted by the music industry had settled for about $3,500 each. The recording industry has said it stopped filing such lawsuits last August and is instead working with Internet service providers to fight the worst offenders.

A U.S.-trained Pakistani scientist accused of helping al-Qaida has repeatedly interrupted her competency hearing to declare her innocence and insist she's not anti-American.

The outbursts came during a daylong hearing in federal court in Manhattan to decide whether 37-year-old Aafia Siddiqui is competent to stand trial.

She is charged with attempted murder and assault. The U.S. government says she grabbed a gun and fired at U.S. soldiers and FBI agents in Afghanistan last summer. She shouted in court Monday that she did not shoot anyone.

She also said she's not really against America and never was.

The outbursts came as psychologists testified whether she is fit for an October trial. The judge said he'll decide that later.

General Motors cleared a major hurdle toward a quick exit from bankruptcy as a judge approved a government-backed plan to create a "new GM" that sheds major debts of the ailing Detroit automaker.

The ruling released late Sunday paves the way for a "reinvention" of GM, which filed for bankruptcy protection on June 1 and has vowed to emerge as a leaner, more profitable company once freed from its burdensome debts.

Judge Robert Gerber said he had examined about 850 objections to the restructuring plan raised by GM bondholders and others, but found there were "no realistic alternatives" to the asset sale.

"As nobody can seriously dispute, the only alternative to an immediate sale is liquidation -- a disastrous result for GM's creditors, its employees, the suppliers who depend on GM for their own existence, and the communities in which GM operates," Gerber wrote.

GM hailed the decision as "another step toward the launch of an independent new GM."

GM president and chief executive Fritz Henderson added that now "it's our responsibility to fix this business and place the company on a clear path to success without delay."

The judge said GM could implement the plan as soon as Thursday at 1600 GMT pending any additional delay imposed by an appellate court.

At least one appeal had been filed Monday, from accident victims seeking to hold the new GM accountable for any product liability damages.

Once the world's largest corporation, the new GM will emerge as a significantly smaller automaker with fewer brands and employees, and a diminished global footprint.

GM's plan seeks to follow the script of Chrysler, which spent 42 days in bankruptcy protection before emerging as a new company run by Italy's Fiat.

As with Chrysler, GM's old corporate entity will remain under supervision of the bankruptcy court, but the new GM will not be burdened by the lengthy process.

A U.S.-trained Pakistani scientist accused of helping al-Qaida and shooting at FBI agents in Afghanistan has been forced to appear in Manhattan court by a judge's order.

Aafia Siddiqui (ah-FEE'-uh see-DEE'-kee) kept her hands folded as she entered court Monday surrounded by marshal's deputies. When the judge said that she was presumed innocent, she shook her head in apparent disagreement.

U.S. District Judge Richard Berman said he would not rule on whether Siddiqui is competent to stand trial, but would hear the testimony of mental health experts.

Psychologists for both prosecutors and the defense say Siddiqui has claimed she saw some of her children in her cell. They say seemed especially disturbed by required strip searches.

Berman has entered a not guilty plea for her.

A woman accused of withholding cancer treatment from her autistic son by canceling appointments and not filling prescriptions pleaded not guilty Monday to an attempted murder charge in the boy's death.

Kristen LaBrie was ordered held on $15,000 cash bail during her arraignment Monday in Salem Superior Court. She did not speak during the brief hearing, except to enter the pleas to attempted murder, child endangerment and other charges.

LaBrie's son, Jeremy, had been diagnosed with leukemia in 2006. He was 9 when he died in March.

Prosecutors say LaBrie, 37, canceled appointments for chemotherapy treatment, did not fill at least half her son's prescriptions and tried to deceived doctors into believing she was giving the boy the proper care.

Her attorney, Kevin James, said Monday that LaBrie was a victim, had financial trouble and took care of the boy on her own.

LaBrie had earlier been charged with child endangerment; a grand jury returned the more serious indictment Friday.

After bitter wrangling, Africa's leaders agreed Friday to denounce the International Criminal Court and refuse to extradite Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, who has been indicted for crimes against humanity in Darfur.

The decision at the African Union summit says AU members "shall not cooperate" with the court in The Hague "in the arrest and transfer of President Omar al-Bashir of the Sudan to the ICC."

Sudan welcomed the move, and other Africans said it was a signal to the West that it shouldn't impose its ways on Africa. A human rights group said the decision was a gift to a dictator.

The 13th AU summit of heads of state, which concluded Friday in Sirte, Libya, also "expresses its preoccupation about the behavior of the ICC prosecutor" Luis Moreno Ocampo, whom African officials describe as too hard on Africans. The ICC has launched investigations into four cases since it was created seven years ago — all of them in Africa.

Sudan rejoiced at the AU's rebuttal of the ICC. "It's the confirmation of what we always said: The indictment is a political thing, not a legal thing," Foreign Minister El Samany El Wasila told The Associated Press just after the decision was made public.

El Wasila declined to comment on whether al-Bashir would now feel free to travel to the 30 African countries that are party to the ICC. "We don't even want to think about it anymore," he said of the international court.

Deborah Rowe, the ex-wife of Michael Jackson and the mother of two of his children, has not reached a final decision on whether to seek custody of the children, a lawyer said Thursday.

Attorney Eric M. George made the disclosure on a telephone conference call but declined to take questions.

"The truth is that Debbie has not reach a final decision concerning the pending custody proceedings," he said. "When Debbie does take a position in the public forum of the court, those positions will of course be conveyed to all interested persons."

Earlier in the day, Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff rescheduled a guardianship hearing for July 13 at the request of attorneys for Rowe and for Katherine Jackson, the singer's mother, who has temporary guardianship of her son's three children.

The legal documents filed in connection with the request were not accompanied by any petition for custody by Rowe.